Feb 2013

UT3 February 2013 January 2013

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T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E S O C I E T Y F O R U N D E R W A T E R T E CUT3 HNO L O G Y 2013 February

UT3 February 2013

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UT3 The Dockwise Vanguard Image: Dockwise

February 2013 Society for Underwater Technology 1 Fetter Lane London EC4A 1BR

+44 (0) 1480 370007 Editor: John Howes John@ut-2.com Editorial Assistant: Tim Parney Sub Editor: Chantal Botha chantal.botha@sut.org

Production: Sue Denham ISSN: 1752-0592

Published by UT2 Publishing Ltd for and on behalf of the Society for Underwater Technology. Reproduction of UT2 in whole or in part, without permission, is prohibited. The publisher and the SUT assumes no responsibility for unsolicited material, nor responsibility for content of any advertisement, particularly infringement of copyrights, trademarks, intellectual property rights and patents, nor liability for misrepresentations, false or misleading statements and illustrations. These are the sole responsibility of the advertiser. Opinions of the writers are not necessarily those of the SUT or the publishers.

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UT3 February 2013

Acquisition and Collaboration Teledyne RESON Teledyne Technologies and RESON have entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of RESON by a wholly-owned subsidiary of Teledyne.

sealing capabilities and the unique use of complete metal-to-metal sealing solutions which significantly reduce the probability of leakage and improve safety.

RESON provides high-resolution marine acoustic imaging and measurement solutions. With over 30 years of experience and approximately 1400 RESON echosounders sold worldwide, RESON is a leading provider of multibeam sonar systems and speciality acoustic sensors for hydrography, global marine infrastructure and offshore energy operations.

UTEC Geomarine

RESON’s multibeam sonar systems range from portable high-resolution shallow water systems used on autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to full ocean depth vessel mounted oceanographic systems.

“RESON ideally complements both our marine instrumentation and digital imaging businesses, and will represent our third acquisition in the last twelve months focused on three dimensional imaging,” said Robert Mehrabian, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Teledyne.

“With RESON, Teledyne will possess the ability to provide detailed 3D imaging solutions, ranging from full ocean depth survey, shallow water and coastal zone imaging, terrestrial and airborne mapping, and even deep space science applications.”

Enovate Aker

Aker Solutions has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Aberdeen-based Enovate Systems – a leading technology company within subsea well control equipment.

Enovate has developed a wide range of unique and patented components and products for use in open water workover systems, in riser workover systems, rigless intervention systems and drilling safety systems. Specific advantages are good cutting and

UT3 February 2013

UTEC – which is based in Houston, has acquired Geomarine Ltd which is headquartered in Newcastle-upon-Tyne with operational offices in Bath, England and Singapore.

The move will capitalise on a natural and highly complementary fit between the two companies, providing a unique opportunity to enhance and increase the range of services offered.

Geomarine Ltd managing director Peter Allan, who will continue to head the company, added: “This transaction opens up a new field of possibilities for our staff and clients. UTEC has a global presence in the survey industry and will allow Geomarine to support clients more effectively, wherever they are located.

Boskalis Dockwise Boskalis has made a mandatory offer for all the issued and outstanding ordinary shares of Dockwise at a price of EUR 18.50 per share or NOK 137.

Together with the irrevocable commitments obtained by Boskalis in connection with the offer, approximately 88.59% of the shares is already acquired by, or committed to, the company.

Fincantieri STX OSV Fincantieri Oil and Gas has completed its acquisition of a 50.75% stake in offshore support vessel specialist STX OSV for a price of SG$1.22 per share, totalling approximately SG$730m (€455m).

The total value of the transaction is expected to amount to around SG$1450m (€900m).

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STX OSV employs around 9200 workers at 10 shipyards.

AKD Aker Subsea AKD Engineering limited, the global engineering and fabrication services provider has announced a 3 year strategic framework agreement with Aker Subsea

FMC Sulzer Sulzer Pumps and FMC Technologies have strengthened their existing relationship through the signing of a long-term and exclusive collaboration agreement. This agreement addresses the supply of pumps for subsea applications and the further development of pumping technology of Sulzer Pumps to meet the future needs of FMC Technologies and the subsea exploration and production industry.

Through this agreement, both companies aim to further leverage leading-edge technology that they have already been collaborating on such as world-class pumps from Sulzer Pumps, and subsea systems and advanced permanent magnet motor technology from FMC Technologies.

Over the last several years, Sulzer Pumps and FMC Technologies have developed, built and qualified a new, high-speed helico-axial multiphase subsea boosting unit based on Sulzer Pumps’ world-renowned, marketleading, and field-proven topside pump designs. To prove the technology, a full-scale, complete pump/motor unit has been built, fully submerged and successfully tested at Sulzer Pumps’ engineered test pool in Leeds.

The pump is driven by a permanent magnet motor that provides, among other benefits, higher speeds, power and efficiency compared to conventional induction motors. This solution will offer high-performance, reliable and cost-effective subsea boosting systems to FMC Technologies.

AUTOMATED UNDERWATER VEHICLES (AUV)

(AW-TUH-MEYT-ED UHN-DER-WAW-TER VEE-I-KUHLS) Enabling VERSATILE, HIGH RESOLUTION SURVEY SOLUTION FOR DEPTHS OF UP TO 1,000M, COMBINED WITH INDUSTRY-LEADING MISSION PLANNING CAPABILITIES. Through the provision of the world’s largest commercial fleet of portable AUVs, NCS Survey can reduce vessel costs by autonomously surveying a pre-programmed area. This best-in-class approach to the offshore survey market is just one example of how Acteon companies are defining, shaping and leading subsea services.

Learn more about our AUVs at www.acteon.com/auv

DEFINING SUBSEA SERVICES

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News Subsea UK Awards 2013 A host of successes within the subsea sector were celebrated last night at Subsea UK’s seventh annual awards ceremony, which aims to recognise innovation and outstanding achievements across the UK subsea industry.

Sponsored by Forum Energy Technologies, the dinner attracted over 800 guests from across the sector and closed the opening day’s proceedings of Subsea 2013.

EPC Offshore was awarded the evening’s top honour, Subsea Company of the Year, sponsored

by Brewin Dolphin. The Aberdeenbased company has experienced rapid growth since it was established in 2009, executing in excess of £20million worth of project management work in the past year alone, including landing a significant contract to select the optimum concept for the development of Hurricane’s Lancaster Field, one of the most significant oil discoveries in the West of Shetland in recent years.

The award for Emerging Talent, sponsored by Wood Group, was won by subsea engineer Paul Otway of Jee who was praised for his work on a variety of projects, including the design and assessment for the world’s longest subsea tieback.

Subsea Technologies Limited was awarded the New Enterprise award for the design and development of a range of subsea engineering solutions. The Aberdeen firm, which was established in 2010, has become known for creating bespoke products to a number of leading offshore operators.

The Innovation and Technology award, sponsored by Simmons & Co International, went to CDL. The firm, which was established in Aberdeen in 1998, has now extended its operations across North and South America. With a considerable range of products, including motion sensors and inertial navigation

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McDermott Allseas systems, CDL has become a market leader in its field.

The Global Exports award, sponsored

by UniversalPegasus International, went to JDR Cable Systems for bringing its innovative umbilical systems to the international market.

Hydratight picked up the Safety Leadership award, sponsored

by Apache, in recognition of its commitment to ensuring high levels of health and safety processes throughout all areas of the business as well as innovation in the training and development of staff.

This year’s Outstanding Contribution Award went to Mark Patterson, CEO of Nautronix. After joining Nautronix in 1996, Patterson oversaw the first public to private sale in Australia, de-listing Nautronix and becoming CEO in 2002.

Commenting on Patterson’s award, Neil Gordon chief executive of Subsea UK, said: “Mark is a well-recognised and well-respected figure within the subsea industry and his award is thoroughly deserved. Not only has he contributed significantly to the industry over the course of his career, he has been responsible for making Nautronix synonymous with cuttingedge, through water technology that is unrivalled. Mark has overseen Nautronix’s ambitious expansion plans to great success and has worked hard to position the firm as the leader in its field.”

Gordon added: “These awards set out to recognise and reward those companies and individuals who continue to push the boundaries to ensure that the UK subsea sector leads the way globally.

“A highly impressive shortlist this year not only meant that it was tougher than ever to identify clear winners, but also demonstrated how robust the sector is.

The winners represent the impressive range of talent and innovation that is keeping the UK subsea sector at the fore-front across the globe.”

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McDermott and Allseas have teamed up to provide a robust project execution strategy for the front-end engineering and design of a subsea natural gas pipeline system and subsea infrastructure installation project for US independent Anadarko Petroleum offshore Mozambique.

The successful pair were awarded a contract in January 2013 for the premier Area 1 offshore field in the Rovuma basin. Considered an essential milestone for Mozambique’s energy infrastructure development, the project is expected to transport natural gas from the Prosperidade offshore development to a new greenfield liquefied natural gas facility.

Technip MMHE

A joint venture of Technip and MMHE were awarded a contract for the Malikai Project in Malaysia by Sabah Shell Petroleum Company Ltd (SSPC).

The contract covers the engineering, procurement and construction of a tension leg platform (TLP) for the TLP Malikai Deepwater Project.

This TLP will be designed as a fullymanned platform to be installed 110km offshore Sabah, Malaysia, at a water depth of approximately 500m. The TLP will weigh approximately 2 000 metric tonnes incorporating a topsides, which will have facilities to process 60 000 barrels of oil and 1.4 million m3 per day of gas, and a hull. The tendons will be fabricated in the US Gulf of Mexico, and transported to Malaysia for installation at the Malikai field.

Technip will lead the joint venture, with engineering and procurement to be carried out at its operating center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Hull and moorings engineering will be performed in Kuala Lumpur by Technip MHB Hull Engineering (TMH). The Malikai TLP will be constructed and commissioned at MMHE’s fabrication yard at Pasir Gudang in Johor, Malaysia. The work is scheduled for completion in mid-2015.

Join a leading Australian university Research Associate Professor/Research Assistant Professor (REF: 492329) FACULTY OF ENGINEERING, COMPUTING AND MATHEMATICS SHELL EMI OFFSHORE ENGINEERING INITIATIVE

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• Salary range: Level C AUD$104,699 - $120,727 p.a.

• Plus 17% superannuation • Closing date: Friday, 29 March 2013 The Shell EMI Chair is a unique research and teaching initiative hosted within the Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics (ECM) at UWA. We are actively building on our already substantial capacity in the oil and gas sector, with collaborative support from Shell. Applications are invited for the newly established Shell EMI Research Associate/Research Assistant Professor positions in Offshore Engineering, from suitably qualified candidates with relevant expertise in metocean, structural, hydraulic or risk/reliability engineering.

The successful applicants will join a team with world-leading skills, unique research facilities and well-established links with the Australian and international oil and gas industries. The University of Western Australia is located 4 km from the Perth CBD, where all of Australia’s oil and gas operators are headquartered. We have invested heavily in research infrastructure to support offshore engineering, creating computational and experimental capabilities that underpin our research and our industry engagement. These new positions offer career-building opportunities in a supportive and successful university environment that enjoys the opportunities of close engagement with a growing industry. Applicants must have a PhD in a related discipline and a track record of industrially-relevant research. Full details are provided in the supporting information. The levels of appointment will be commensurate with the background and experience of the successful applicants. Assistance with relocation expenses (if applicable) may be negotiated.

For further information regarding the position please contact Winthrop Professor David White, Shell EMI Chair of Offshore Engineering on +61 8 6488 3086 or email david.white@uwa.edu.au.

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RS Aqua Liquid Robotics RS Aqua has signed a distribution agreement with Liquid Robotics to provide UK/Ireland sales and technical support for the wave powered autonomous marine robot Wave Glider.

The Wave Glider uses only the ocean’s endless supply of wave energy for propulsion and solar energy for communications, computing and sensor electronics. It requires no fuel or manpower, creates no harmful

environmental emissions and requires no refuelling as it goes about its missions to collect environmental data during yearlong cruises over thousands of miles.

Under the terms of the agreement, RS Aqua will provide marketing, sales, service and maintenance support for the Wave Glider product line within the ocean research, offshore renewable energy, coastal monitoring, security, defence and allied market sectors.

RS Aqua has also entered into a collaborative venture with Manson Oceanographic Consultancy who, during 2011 and 2012, provided Wave Glider business development services to Liquid Robotics for the UK and Irish territories.

The foundations laid by Manson will be progressed from RS Aqua’s Hampshire based commercial and engineering facilities.

RS Aqua has signed a distribution agreement with Liquid Robotics

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UT3 February 2013

News Chevron Angola Chevron subsidiary Cabinda Gulf Oil Company will proceed with the development of the Mafumeira Sul project located offshore Angola.

The Mafumeira Sul project offshore Angola involves the design, fabrication and installation of five new platforms. The project highlights a continued effort to expand the capabilities of Angolan fabrication yards, increase the knowledge of Angolan engineers and adds skilled employees to the Angolan workforce.

Once online in 2015, the project will build to a production capacity of 110 000 barrels of crude oil and 10 000 barrels liquefied petroleum gas per day.

Located 15 miles (24 km) offshore Cabinda province in 200ft (60m) of water, the $5.6 billion Mafumeira Sul project is the second stage of development of the Mafumeira Field located in Block 0. The project scope includes 50 wells, two wellhead platforms, a central processing and compression facility and approximately 75 miles (121 km) of subsea pipelines.

Mafumeira Sul is expected to reach first oil in 2015 and build toward peak total daily production of 110 000 barrels of crude oil and 10,000 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas. Associated natural gas will be commercialized through the Angola Liquefied Natural Gas (ALNG) plant in Soyo, Angola.

Chevron’s subsidiary is the operator and holds a 39.2 percent interest in Mafumeira Sul. Chevron’s partners are Sonangol E.P. (41 percent), Total (10 percent) and ENI (9.8 percent).

Mafumeira Norte, the initial development of the Mafumeira Field, achieved first oil in 2009 and currently produces more than 40,000 barrels of oil a day. Chevron produces 340,000 barrels of oil and condensate (108,000 net) from Block 0.

BP Angola

BP Exploration Angola has announced that production from the PSVM development area in Block 31, offshore Angola, has started.

The PSVM development consists of four oil fields – Plutão, Saturno, Vénus and Marte – discovered in 2002-04

in water depths of up to 2000m and is the second BP-operated development in Angola.

PSVM produces through a converted hull, floating, production, storage and offloading vessel (FPSO) with 1.6 million barrels of storage capacity and the first FPSO in Angola ultra-deep water. A total of 40 production, gas and water injection wells will be connected to the FPSO through 15 subsea manifolds and associated subsea equipment.

Initial production comes from three production wells in Plutao field and is expected to ramp up to around 70,000 barrels of oil per day. PSVM is expected to build towards plateau rates of 150,000 barrels of oil per day over the coming year with the additional production from Saturno and Venus fields in 2013 and Marte in 2014.

The PSVM development project was developed with more than 20 per cent local content in the manufacture and assembly of key components.

Mafumeira Sul

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Technical Trainer Part-time contract role Full training Locations worldwide Knowing that people are benefitting from your expertise is a fantastic feeling. It means that your knowledge is being passed on, creating the next generation of industry experts.

What’s more, at Jee it’s possible to teach on your own terms, without the commitment of a full-time role. If you’re an authority in the subsea area, we can give you the freedom to work on a flexible contract basis, sharing your specialist knowledge. As well as an in-depth understanding of our field, you’ll need to be professional and authoritative, with a gift for imparting knowledge. If you’ve got the confidence and credibility, there’s no limit to what you could achieve – or what others might learn. We’re also keen to add fresh talent to our team in Engineering and Support roles.

To find out more please visit:

www.jee.co.uk/careers

REACH FURTHER

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Mariner Project

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Mariner The UK government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has announced its approval of the field development plan put forward by Statoil and its coventurers for the Mariner heavy oil field.

Since Statoil entered in 2007, the company has developed a leading heavy oil position in the area, as an operator with 65.11% equity in Mariner and 81.6% equity in the Bressay field.

The project entails investments of more than US$7 billion and is the largest new offshore development in the UK in more than a decade.

Statoil expects to make a final investment decision for Bressay in 2013. Through applying technology and competence, the value of Statoil’s position in the area has increased substantially.

Statoil expects to start production from Mariner in 2017, and the field is expected to produce for 30 years. The average production is estimated at around 55,000 barrels of oil per day over the plateau period from 2017 to 2020.

“Statoil and its partners appreciate the cooperation from the UK government and the approval of the development plan for this landmark project. The North Sea is a core area for Statoil and we look forward to taking a leading role in further developing also the UK part of this basin,” says Helge Lund, president and CEO of Statoil.

The Mariner project was positively impacted by the UK government’s expansion of the Ring Fence Expenditure Supplement and will provide significant tax income for the UK. Statoil will establish an operations center for Mariner in Aberdeen, and the project will lead to substantial job creation in the region with more than 700 long-term, full-time positions.

Statoil has extensive heavy oil experience from offshore fields in Norway and Brazil, which will enable it to develop the Mariner field.

The field will be developed with a production, drilling and quarters (PDQ) platform based on a steel jacket, with 50 active well slots, and a floating storage unit (FSU) of 850,000 barrels capacity.

In addition a jack-up rig will be used for the first four to five years.

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Statoil is a key energy security partner for the UK and pursues a broad range of activities relating to energy production and sales in Britain.

Statoil have a sales office for crude oil in London, and are a substantial supplier of gas to the British market. In addition to being operator for the Mariner and Bressay fields, Statoil is partners in the producing fields Schiehallion, Jupiter and Alba as well as in several exploration licences offshore UK, including the oil and gas discovery Rosebank.

Statoil was awarded seven licences in the 27th Licence Round both in the UK North Sea and the UK Shetland basin. Together with Statkraft, Statoil has developed the Sheringham Shoal offshore wind farm and recently acquired the Dudgeon offshore wind farm project.

Statoil is also partners in the Dogger Bank offshore wind project. Statoil’s business area for Global Strategy and Business Development is based in London and Statoil has around 400 employees in the UK. The Mariner Field is located on the East Shetland Platform of the UK North Sea approximately 150 km east of the Shetland Isles.

Statoil acquired 44.44% and operatorship for Mariner from Chevron in 2007.

Statoil acquired a further 20.6667% of Mariner from Nautical Petroleum in 2010. JX Nippon Exploration and Production (U.K.) Ltd (28.89%) and Alba Resources Limited (6%) are partners in Mariner. Alba Resources Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cairn Energy PLC.

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News McDermott McDermott’s Indonesian subsidiary has been awarded a contract by PC Muria, an affiliate of Petronas Carigali, to develop offshore surface facilities and an infield flowline for the Kepodang Field, located approximately 180km northeast of Semarang, Central Java, in water depths of up to 70m. The project will be included in McDermott’s fourth quarter 2012 backlog.

The award includes the procurement, construction, installation and commissioning of a 5802t central processing platform; a 1298t wellhead platform; a 2.7km long, 10in diameter infield flowline; and installation of remote control facilities at the onshore receiving facilities.

Procurement engineering has already started and fabrication of the facilities will take place at the McDermott Batam yard in Indonesia.

Transportation and installation will involve a diverse range of vessels from the McDermott fleet, including a 300-class float-over barge that will install the central processing platform’s 3078t topsides.

Project completion, including hookup and commissioning, is expected to be in the fourth quarter of 2014.

and well jumper kits and umbilical termination assemblies. Deliveries are scheduled to commence in the first half of 2013.

Saipem In Saudi Arabia, Saipem has been awarded a lump sum contract by Saudi Aramco increasing the original scope of work agreed in early 2011 for the development of the Arabiyah and Hasbah fields, located in the Arabic Gulf. The new scope relates to extra work on the trunklines construction. l In the North Sea, Saipem has been awarded various transportation and installation (T&I) contracts by Statoil requiring the deployment of Saipem 7000 in both the Norwegian and British sectors. l Saipem has been awarded several minor contracts and agreed to changes in the scope of work of existing contracts, mainly in the Middle East, North Sea and West Africa. l Det Norske oljeselskap ASA has awarded Saipem the contract for supply of the steel jacket for the Ivar Aasen platform. The contract is worth NOK 709 million.

The steel jacket will be constructed in Arbatax, located on Sardinia. The height of the jacket, to be installed at a water depth of 112m, is 138 meters. The total weight, piles included, is 14 400t.

Det norske has also awarded the contract for transportation and installation to Saipem. This contract is worth NOK 310 million, and ensures that the platform deck will be lifted onto the jacket during the planned time slot. The steel jacket will be lifted into place in April 2015, whereas the platform deck is scheduled to be lifted onto the jacket in May/June 2016.

Technip Technip has been awarded a subsea contract by Shell for the Malikai project Malikai Deepwater project, located offshore Sabah, at a water depth of approximately 650m.

The contract includes transportation, installation and pre-commissioning of a 8in 50km gas pipeline and a 10in 55km liquid pipeline including steel catenary risers.

The pipelines stretch from the Malikai tension leg platform site to the Kebabangan platform.

FMC FMC Technologies has received an order from BP for the manufacture and supply of subsea equipment to support water injection in the Thunder Horse field.

The Thunder Horse oil field is located in the Mississippi Canyon area of the Gulf of Mexico, 150 miles (240km) southeast of New Orleans in approximately 6300ft (1920m) of water.

FMC Technologies’ scope of supply includes two manifolds and associated controls equipment. In addition, the scope includes several pipeline end terminations, flowline

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The Ivar Aasen platform

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programme. Fabrication of the first structure will commence in March 2013, with the final structure to be completed two years later in 2015.

Mermaid

Mermaid Offshore Services and Subtech Qatar Diving has been awarded a series of contracts from existing clients for the provision of subsea services to support offshore oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Thailand, Sakhalin and Qatar.

The combined value of these contract awards is approximately US$ 30 million.

Map of the Malikai project Technip’s operating centers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Singapore will execute the contract, which is scheduled to be completed by the second semester of 2015. Offshore installation will be carried out by Technip’s flagship S-Lay vessel, the G1201.

Babcock Babcock is to manufacture and deliver over 70 subsea structures as part of the major Quad 204 offshore redevelopment project, some 130km west of Shetland, UK, under a £30m contract awarded by BP. The complex and highly technical Quad 204 project consists of a new floating production system offshore (FPSO) to replace the existing Schiehallion FPSO; an extension of the existing subsea system with 15 new or replacement flow lines and 21 new or replacement risers; and 14 new wells in addition to the 52 existing wells.

This major project will access the remaining hydrocarbon reserves in the Schiehallion and Loyal fields, extending production through to 2035.

Under the contract Babcock will be fabricating 74 modules in carbon steel for the subsea system. These include 44 process fluid handling

structures (including manifolds, flowline and riser terminations, and subsea isolation valve structures), and 30 control distribution structures (such as assemblies and umbilical terminations), amounting to a total of some 2300t of fabrication.

The eight different manifolds range in size from 56t to 131t, the largest measuring some 10.8 by 10.8 by 9.2m.

Three subsea isolation valve structures and 14 control distribution assemblies (measuring some 12.5 x 10 x 3.8m), weighing 58t and 65t each respectively, are also among the items to be produced, along with flowline and riser end termination assemblies and umbilical end terminations, weighing 10-12t each, and two 20t dynamic umbilical termination assemblies.

To deliver this contract Babcock has put forward a single site solution, with all work to be undertaken at its Rosyth facility, where the structures will be fabricated, then equipped with pipework, valves and controls, and fully tested before shipment.

The design phase (being delivered by JP Kenny) is currently on-going, with phased delivery of design drawings, from which Babcock engineers will produce the fabrication drawings, to suit the structure fabrication

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Mermaid’s DP2 dive support vessel Mermaid Commander has been contracted to provide a complete service package comprising dive crew, construction management and all necessary support services, manpower and equipment to complete various work scopes to be performed at various locations within the Gulf of Thailand. The contract is scheduled to commence in May 2013 for approximately 100 days.

Mermaid’s DP2 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) support vessel ‘Mermaid Sapphire’ has been contracted to provide turnkey diving and ROV services in the Gulf of Thailand equipped with diving gear for air diving intervention, qualified divers, diving supervisors, ROVs and qualified ROV personnel. The contract is schedule to commence in February 2013 for approximately 45 days.

Mermaid’s DP2 construction barge ‘Mermaid Siam’ has been contracted to provide accommodation services for over 100 offshore personnel inclusive of ancillary services to support offshore construction works in Qatar.

The contract is scheduled to commence in May 2013 for a period of five months with a three month extension option.

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Subsea LiDAR CDL is introducing a novel subsea LiDAR metrology device to market that could have a significant impact on the oil and gas industry. One promising application involves connecting up pieces of subsea pipelines and production equipment.

Light detection and ranging (LiDAR) is a well-established terrestrial metrology process. Its principle of operation can be simplistically compared with radio detection and ranging (RADAR). Indeed, it is sometime called LASER RADAR. RADAR works by emitting a radio or microwave towards a target. Any reflective back scatter is captured by a receiver and analysed. Knowing the speed of sound in air, the time interval between the pulse being emitted and received is proportional to the distance between the device and the target.

LiDAR operates in a similar way, except that it uses light instead of acoustic waves. The light in the form of a laser pulse can be more focused than an acoustic wavefront. However, because light is characterised by much smaller wavelengths, around 10–750nm in the ultraviolet and

visible light part of the spectrum, it is also able to measure with considerably greater resolution.

LiDAR is used routinely in high resolution large scale airborne surveys.

Its scanners can measure canopy heights for forestry applications, quantify land movement and assist in agronomy. This technology is also widely used for heritage preservation and environmental monitoring.

More importantly for the mechanical engineer, the technique can also be used on a much smaller scale, to rapidly measure the dimensions of buildings, structures and pipework.

Within the past few years, LiDAR systems have become a predominant survey tool, forming the basis of a $3billion industry in systems, software and services across the world.

Applying LiDAR technology to subsea measurement tasks would potentially confer these speed and accuracy advantages to imaging underwater structures. One limitation is, however, that light waves are easily absorbed by the medium of seawater.

Because the longer acoustic waves are considerably less affected, sonar

companies have been quick to apply acoustic solutions to this problem.

Companies have started to apply 3D multibeam sonar technology for underwater metrology.

Scanners, positioned at known point, emit sonar pulses. The reflected images are then plotted as a ‘point cloud’. Relocating sonars to various points and installing calibration targets, allow these points to be output as 3D models.

The drawback to using sound for high resolution metrology, however, is that the beam sizes are magnitudes larger than would be the case from using light. Furthermore, the beam size increases with range. Considerable processing and interpolation is also required to create point clouds with the fidelity of laser scanning systems.

But what if laser light could be used instead of sound?

In in theory, it would produce a more accurate point cloud.

That was the question that was posed by the Colorado-based LiDAR technology company 3D at Depth.

It commenced an ongoing research and development programme building on technology and best practices to mitigate these limitations specifically for deep water applications.

It developed an innovative working subsea LiDAR system called INScan. CDL Engineering has bought into the project and will be responsible for both taking the product to market.

The INScan leverage a time of flight (TOF) underwater sensor which can

Subsea LiDAR under testing

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accurately map structures at distances up to 25 meters within a millimeters.

The 24.6in, 8.3in diameter cylindrical body directs laser light in the blue green part of the spectrum, (around 532nm, to minimise attenuation) onto the target.

The sensor scans in two dimensions covering a 30deg by 30deg field of view. Mounting the body on a pan and tilt stage, however, essentially gives a 360deg field of view to capture full scenes including structures and surrounding seabeds. The entire body may rotate, or alternatively, the stationary laser beam can be directed at a rotating mirror.

The system creates industry standard point clouds which can be processes and modeled into CAD or GIS models.

Because the system has been used terrestrially for many years, the interpretation software to transform the raw data into accurate 3D imagery has already been written and is at an advanced level.

A characteristic feature of the technique is its very fast sampling rate – around 20 000 points/sec and upgradable to 40 000 points/sec. This can result in a single scan consisting of 9 million points. This large amount of data, however, can be processed to produce a 3D view within 30-45mins.

Composite INScan and photograph

and a jumper pipe – also known as a spoolpiece – is purpose-built to those specifications. This is lowered down to stab into or over the respective hubs.

Flow can then commence.

“In deep waters, the spoolpiece installation vessels can be very expensive. If the jumper lines are mis-measured and do not fit, the cost and time delays can be severe. To be confident of achieving the correct measurement, therefore, it is common to use more than one metrology system.

The industry has, accordingly, developed a wide range of seabed

metrology techniques. Each system has its own advantages and disadvantages,” said Nick Green.

One such is an ‘acoustic tape measure’, triangulating a number of acoustic beacons. Alternatively, flying a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) with an inertial navigation system would plot the three dimensional movement between two points. Photogrammetric techniques have also found useful applications.

One relatively recent addition to this arsenal of tools is high resolution multibeam imaging.

CDL Engineering envisages a particularly recognisable application of the tool is in the area of spoolpiece measurement.

“A main infield pipeline is normally laid with special terminations at either end,” said Nick Green, Sales manager at CDL.“The subsea architecture such as the trees and manifolds are often installed subsequently. For the wellstream to flow from the tree, for example, into the pipeline, these have to be connected together.

“On each device is a hub or connection point. The distance between the hubs is measured Tripod-mounted INScan

Scanning Laser

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Subsea LiDAR “Sonar imaging is based on the propagation of sound waves which may be quite long,” said Green.

The resulting resolution is good enough to enjoy an accuracy within the centimetre level that is quite suitable for most seabed metrology applications.

“The new INScan system, conversely, would have far better resolution because it uses a much shorter wavelength. Its disadvantage is that absorption in water effectively limits the subsea LiDAR to a maximum of 25m of depending on target reflectivity and water conditions.

Turbidity and sediment can affect the passage of light through the water.

“The higher resolution point cloud would, however, would contribute a high degree of confidence in the final remote measurement.”

“INScan is likely to have a number of other potential subsea applications,” said Green. “This can include general asset mapping and inspection, verifying that subsea structures have been installed correctly. It can also

INScan on a tripod in a test tank

useful for maintenance and life of field asset management.”

Other possibilities away from the offshore industry. One such may include mine countermeasures.

“When looking at subsea structures, the operator knows where the subject is and what it looks like,” said Green.

“Looking at munitions, however, a wide range of different types exist. These may be recognisable by shape and markings. In the same way that a torch or flashlight can recognise changes in colour, the INScan may also detect hues, shades and patterns given enough contrast.

“It is sometimes possible to read the lettering on the sides of structures.

An embossed letter has a different depth and often becomes possible to recognise.”

CDL While 3D at Depth has shown the subsea LiDAR system to work successfully, CDL Engineering still has design challenges and testing programmes to be met before the device and be operationally brought to market.

ROV-mounted INSCAN

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“The subsea atmosphere is by nature, corrosive,” said Green, “and we would

Visualising the target by camera and INScan

envisage the device being operated at water depths up to 3000m. While the industry has experience in enclosing deep water subsea electronics in high pressure housings, subsea LiDAR is an optical system requires a window enclosure.

“It is now important to test such these devices to ensure integrity and develop operating practices. We know its advantages but need to understand any operational shortcomings and how to circumvent them,” said Green. “CDL Engineering’s part of the project has only just begun.”

CDL has already carried out trials and are currently building further units to take to take to various projects around the world CDL and 3D at Depth are working on the next generation product which will integrate high resolution scanning onto a moving platform such as an ROV. The research and development has been funded by the Research Partnership to Secure Energy for

America (RPSEA) a non-profit organisation dedicated to the acceleration of tools and technologies for deep water oil and gas applications..

Other applications include fresh water applications such as dam and bridge construction and verification as well as environmental monitoring and cultural preservation work.

“The speed of scanning and interpretation and the general accuracy makes this tool invaluable in damage inspection resulting from accident or sever a natural disaster such as a tropical storm or tsunami.”

ROV It is useful to look at the target from as many directions as possible in order to build up a comprehensive point cloud. This suits deploying the tool from an ROV. Last year, the device was installed on an FMC Technologies Schilling ROV, where it was able to carry out precision target imaging in the test tank at the Davis headquarters.

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The target was based on a hot stab panel, around 2.1m wide and mounted on support legs. After comparing the scan with reference measurements, the engineers found it could achieve accuracies better than 3mm at distances of up to 8m.

“While the ROV would be parked and thus stationary when making the scan, another option that we are potentially looking at, is to combine the technology with our motion sensors,” said Green.

“If we know where and how fast the ROV is moving, we can subtract that information from the images that the INSCAN produces, to get a virtually real time scanning tool.”

Laser beam from an INScan unit

UT3 February 2013

Autonomous Control The offshore industry is one of the primary beneficiaries of small ROV evolution. Many of the tasks assigned to work class ROVs – or human divers – is shallow (less than 300m) and involves searching, inspecting, or surveying underwater.

These tasks are ideally suited to VideoRay mini ROV technology.

Smaller, lighter, ROVs that consume very little power can be deployed from many different areas on rigs and ships. Since they have very little mass, they can be safely used on comparatively delicate machinery without fear of damage.

Launching simply involves heaving the submersible by hand into the water. They can be deployed in sea states that would be too dangerous for larger machines. Their thrust to weight ratio for a small tether means that mini ROVs can handle more current than most work class ROVs in shallow waters.

By providing the ROVs with autonomous control functions, the systems are able to carry out precise waypoint based navigation.

Ensuring that the video data is geo-referenced and the latitude and longitude coordinates of each framed are known means that observations and features can be readily revisited in the future.

The autonomous ROVs can carry out station-keeping, surveys, cruise and auto orbiting making it an ideal low logistic, rapid deployment survey tool.

The technology works by combining the VideoRay ROV’s navigation computer, which fuses the data from a global positioning system (GPS) and a state-of-the-art phased array Doppler velocity log (DVL) with a dynamic positioning computer that translates the highlevel mission requirements from a surveyor into automatic thruster demands.

UT3 February 2013

VideoRay Pro 4 Remotely Operated Vehicle surveys the tsunami damage in Japan in 2011 for salvage estimates. Photo Credit: Mr. Masanobu Shibuya, President SDI

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Survey CoPilot VideoRay Survey CoPilot from SeeByte, uses navigation and vehicle control combined as a live control, capable of going to a preset surface or subsurface target location using coordinates. It can then run a preset search route, or go automatically to “point and click” locations in route.

Pilots can autonomously follow predefined missions or maintain a station in currents exceeding 1kt and rough sea conditions.

With Survey CoPilot, operators can detect, acquire and classify, all during the same operation. With precise bottom track data provided by the Teledyne DVL, pilots can autonomously acquire a GPS fix on the surface and, once submerged, continuously update the ROV’s position in water altitudes ranging from 80m deep to as shallow as 31cms.

Pilots can autonomously follow predefined sorties or maintain a station in currents exceeding 1kt and rough sea conditions.

With RI CoPilot, operators can detect, acquire and classify, all during the same sortie. BlueView imaging sonar identifies underwater objects in a user-selectable operation and allows long range target detection in turbid or black waters and close-in target classification, all in real time.

With precise bottom track data provided by the Teledyne DVL (Doppler Velocity Log), pilots can autonomously acquire a GPS fix on the surface and, once submerged, continuously update the ROV’s position in water altitudes

ranging from 80m deep to as shallow as 31cms.

RI CoPilot is interoperable with the separately available COIN (Common Operator Interface Navy) / SeeTrack software tools used for military underwater asset sortie-planning, monitoring and post-processing reporting.

RI CoPilot can accept exported MEDAL target locations and flight plans developed using COIN / SeeTrack software and also supports import of vehicle navigation log files and primary sensor back into COIN / SeeTrack for post-mission reporting and further MCM tactical processes with MEDAL.

“The VideoRay Sonar CoPilot incorporates the most advanced technology in software and imaging sonar target tracking and automation,” said a spokesman. “When you identify a sonar target, simply click on the image on the PC monitor and the computer controls the thrusters to manoeuvre to within visual range, as you simply play out tether as needed.

“This solution simply takes a VideoRay Pro 4 ROV system with a BlueView P900 series imaging sonar and adds software which allows click-and-go auto piloting. Once a target is identified with the BlueView sonar, it is possible to click on it, and the VideoRay Pro 4 ROV will fly to the target autonomously.

RI CoPilot

VideoRay RI (Reacquire Identify) CoPilot by SeeByte uses sonar, navigation and vehicle control combined as a live control capable of going to a preset surface or subsurface target location using coordinates, run a preset search route, or go automatically to “point and click” locations in route.

With Survey CoPilot, operators can detect, acquire and classify, all during the same operation

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UT3 February 2013

Underwater Vehicles Subsea operations commonly require equipment or loads to be deployed to, or recovered from, the seafloor.

This is often carried out by lift bags or winches. Sometimes, however, the work requirements are more exacting.

An operation, for example, could require a modular device to be unlatched and retrieved from a structure or to be accurately landed into a receptacle. Furthermore, this work may have to be executed in strong local currents or at speed. This sort of operation would be require the control and manoeuvrability only available from remotely operated vehicle (ROV) technology.

All things being equal, the heavier the payload, the more powerful the ROV would have to be to manoeuvre or transport it. The larger the ROV, the greater the necessary support equipment. The larger this spread, the more expensive it would be.

SeaBotix has recently challenged this premise by developing a novel vehicle design in which a relatively

small mini-ROV can be used to cost-effectively transport items of much greater weight than might have otherwise been expected from such a small package.

“We have designed a ten-thruster system with a significant lift capacity” said Don Rodocker, Chairman and Chief Operating Officer at SeaBotix.

“Called the SeaLift, it can pick up and fly with weights up to 18 kilos. There isn’t another micro ROV that comes anywhere near this. It is almost heralds a new classification – a heavy-lift miniROV. “A typical mini ROV might be able to lift a payload of one or maybe two kilos.

The new SeaLift, however, can lift 18kg currently, and there is even an option for a 25kg model. Eventually, we are looking to go to for much heavier loads if there is a demand. That is our goal.”

The impressive power budget comes from 10 brushless direct drive DC thrusters, each with individual oil compensators. Of these, the keynote upward thrust is accomplished by six

Two vectran thrusters for lift and steering

Downward pointing camera to view load

Four thrusters arranged in a 45deg vector arrangement

vertical thrusters. They are arranged as a pair of vertran thrusters housed within the upper body shell, augmented by four vertical thrusters mounted one at each corner.

The remaining four thrusters are set in a vector arrangement, and used to carry out horizontal movement and enable the precise manoeuvring. Each thruster is based on a 100mm diameter propeller which enables the vehicle to achieve speeds of over 3kts when not carrying a load.

An important component of any ROV is the grabber/dropper, which is employed to grip the load being carried. The grabber arms of most vehicles extend out from the front of the vehicle. One of the problems with this, however, is that picking up very heavy weights would pull down the front of the ROV while placing significant stresses where the arm joins the ROV.

The SeaBotix SeaLift

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SeaBotix, therefore, envisages an articulating arm design that can swing downwards to the vertical. This keeps the load centred below the ROV and maintains stability, particularly when carrying

Triggerfish T4N Deep Ocean Engineering has launched its Triggerfish T4N rapid deployment observation class ROV.

Four main thrusters pointing downwards to provide lift

“The Triggerfish T4N has undergone a complete redesign,” said sales and marketing Vice President Bill Charbonneau, “and although it has some similarities to the Triggerfish T4H, there are many new and enhanced features not found in the T4H. “We have redesigned it with new electronics and changed the power distribution to achieve more thrust.

We have also changed the design slightly, making it wider for increased stability. In general, the design is smaller, more powerful, and more manoeuvrable.”

“The power and control system is networked together with multiple processors providing redundancy and enhanced capabilities.”

Deep Ocean has also designed the high performance brushless thrusters which have been optimised to provide a higher thrust to weight ratio.

Downwardpointing jaws to keep the load centred below the ROV

The Triggerfish T4N is rated for a working depth of 305m. It is 927mm in length, 501mm in width and has a height of 355mm. It weighs 45kg in air.

It can be launched by two people. The polypropylene chassis is resilient, non-corroding and maintenancefree.

heavy weights. The grabber terminates in a conventional interlocking three-jaw parallel grab/cutter.

There are four thrusters, each of which can put out 15kgf (33lbs) of force, giving the ROV a forward thrust of 30 kgf and a lateral/vertical thrust of 10 kgf.

The SeaBotx SeaLift has a length of 625mm (24.6ins) and a width of 638mm (25.1in). Its height is 525mm (20.7in) and it weighs 30kg in air. The ROV is nominally rated to a 950m (3116ft) working depth, although the designers have included an optional depth rating of 2000m–3000m within the range.

The ROV incorporates a standard 37mm camera on a pan and tilt assembly with an LED lighting system consisting of high intensity LED lights.

The Triggerfish T4N differentiates itself from other vehicles in its class with its size, thrust, and ruggedness.

The vehicle is connected to the surface facilities by means a 1250m (4101ft) ultra small diameter 11.2mm (0.44in) high strength durable low drag tether. This has a working load of 100kgf (220ft/lbs) and a breaking strain of 700kgf (15 343lb/ ft). It is neutrally buoyant in fresh water.

There are multiple camera options including high definition rear and side units. There is also a wide range of sensors available, including a scanning, multibeam or profiling sonar, along with tracking using an ultra short baseline positional system.

A typical model would have a 600 line colour camera with a 270deg range of view, sensitive to 0.0001 lux at f1.4. It may also be accompanied by a 2160lumen LED lighting system.

The SeaLift may have additional lighting, thickness gauge, cathodic protection system etc.

Triggerfish T4N

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UT3 February 2013

Underwater Vehicles Mariscope in Chile The Chilean government’s recently created agency for environmental issues (Superintendencia de Medio Ambiente, (SMA)) has ordered an FOII observation class ROV from the Chilean Branch of Mariscope Meerestechnik.

This is a widely used vehicle in South America and other parts of the world.

In addition, the SMA has ordered three 75m type conductivity, temperature and depth (CTD) sensors from Mariscope. These have been provided by the

German manufacturer Sea & Sun Technologies, with whom Mariscope has developed a strong cooperation over several years on the South American market.

The aim of the SMA is to start the control of harvesting sites in Chile, mainly were the Aquaculture Industry has its activity since nearly 25 years.

The ROV will be used to control sedimentation under the net cages, take sediment samples and control underwater waste disposals.

The government is also increasingly concerned with contamination related

Mariscope FOII observation class ROV

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to the mining industry, waste water production and human impact.

With the new system, waste water pipelines can be monitored and regulated to ensure no environmental damage.

Because of the strong earthquake activity in the country, tectonic movement often damages the pipelines.

These kind of instruments, however, will provide the Chilean government with early information about any damage that may have occurred following an earth movement.

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HPU and Torque tools for Gorgon Velocious have successfully delivered on budget and ahead of schedule the Hydraulic Power Units, Torque Tools and associated tooling to Subsea7 for the Gorgon project.

Hydraulic Power Units will be used for offshore testing of ROV Tooling whilst the Class 5 Torque Tools will be used to operate GE diverless clamp connectors.

Managing Director, Brett Silich stated “The delivery of Hydraulic Power Units on this scope further demonstrates Velocious expanding capability into support equipment for the subsea and offshore sector.

Velocious has recently been delivering HPU’s, Testing and Flushing Units and Umbilical Termination Assemblies for other key clients. We expect the range of products to further grow in the area of subsea distribution and permanent hardware”

Torque Tools and associated tooling for the Gorgon project

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UT3 February 2013

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UT3 February 2013

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UT3 February 2013

Underwater Vehicles Lula OceanGate, a global provider of deep-sea manned submersible solutions, has acquired the from Portugal’s Rebikoff-Niggeler Foundation.

The submarine, which can operate at a depth of 500m (1640ft), was purchased to meet the increased demand for manned submersibles in commercial applications focused on biological and environmental surveys, monitoring and inspection.

Having conducted hundreds of dives during her 10-year operating history, Lula will expand OceanGate’s ability to meet growing industry client demands, helping fulfill contracts for the University of Washington on behalf of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and Office of Naval Research.

Lula will also supplement OceanGate’s Antipodes submersible in performing survey, inspection, and monitoring work in the Gulf of Mexico.

“OceanGate’s acquisition of Lula

reflects the increased demand for submersibles in specific commercial applications,” notes William Kohnen, president/CEO of Hydrospace Group and a leading analyst in the underwater research industry.

“As more organisations continue to re-evaluate the use of manned submersibles and their value as part of the overall portfolio of sub-sea operations, we will continue to see the market grow. As an industry, these forward looking market development roles continue to be lead by privately funded organisations like OceanGate as they deploy more technology and applications related to submersible solutions.”

The submersible is equipped with a five-function manipulator and accompanying sampling box, which together allow for in-situ sampling of marine objects, core sampling for geologic research and collection of diverse data sets. As a direct observation platform, Lula offers excellent visibility and outstanding

Three-person, diesel-electric submersible Lula

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opportunity for clients doing monitoring and inspection work.

Her 1.5-m diameter hemispherical viewing dome delivers a wide field of view. In addition, Lula is outfitted with state-ofthe-art illumination systems, video and photo equipment, and preinstalled oceanographic data sensors.

“Lula’s power system provides long range capabilities which help extend our expeditions, and her depth rating of 500m will be valuable in a multitude of commercial applications,” states Stockton Rush, co-founder and CEO of OceanGate. “ Lula’s diesel-electric power system permits direct sailing to dive sites, thereby requiring minimum surface support, and enables efficient international mobility, furthering OceanGate’s global reach.

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UT3 February 2013

Vessels

Dockwise Vanguard Following sea trials, the Dockwise Vanguard has left the yard of Hyundai Heavy Industries and started its maiden trip.

Dockwise Vanguard will sail to the Samsung Heavy Industries yard in Korea to pick up the giant hull of the Jack / St Malo semi-submersible floating production facility for transportation to the US Gulf of Mexico. “

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UT3 February 2013

Mooring ABS Approval

Helical Subsea Mooring Connectors Balltec has introduced the Helical Subsea Mooring Connectors (SMC’s). These are simplified connector suitable for the most demanding mooring applications.

Helical connectors build on Balltec’s experience in subsea moorings and are specifically designed to retain ease of use whilst reducing parts count and negating the need for chemicals and environment seals.

The Quality and Reliability of offshore mooring hardware is of paramount importance, the simplicity of Helical Connectors offers unmatched confidence and reliability from one of the world’s leading mooring connector suppliers.

The design of the Helical Connector combines the top entry, self-aligning and speedy installation features of the more complex ball and taper mooring connector with the simplicity of a traditional ROV H-Link.

Balltec Ltd, which specialises in ball and taper connectors is constantly finding new applications for the oil and gas industry. The Helical Connector is the first none ball and taper product to be added to its portfolio.

Martin Bell, Sales and Marketing Director said: “The Balltec team is very proud to introduce the Helical Connector. As a company we have a significant track record in subsea moorings and we are always looking to develop and innovate.

The Helical Connector is a product that moves away from complex and back to simplicity.

We have listened to the market and now, through our range of connectors, we have a product for everyone.”

Subsea mooring connector (SMC) equipment supplier, First Subsea, has been awarded the American Bureau of Shipping’s ABS 2009 Approval for specialist subsea mooring connectors.

It is the first manufacturer of offshore mooring connectors to achieve this type approval for the design and manufacture of large scale forgings over 500mm in diameter.

The ABS 2009 Certification of Offshore Mooring Chain specifies the requirements for materials, design, manufacture, and testing of offshore mooring chain and accessories, including special subsea mooring connectors, intended to be used for temporary and permanent mooring systems.

The approval applies to First Subsea’s range of Ballgrab ball and taper mooring connectors manufactured from steel grade 4330V forgings up to 510mm outside diameter. The subsea mooring connectors can be used with R3, R3S, R4, R4S & R5 grade chain and shackle.

The ABS 2009 Approval builds on First Subsea’s investment in research into large scale steel forgings. In collaboration with the University of Sheffield’s Institute for Microstructural and Mechanical Process Engineering (IMMPETUS), the company leads the world in research into the manufacture and testing of 4330V large scale steel forgings.

Balltec’s new connector

The company’s research was instrumental the development of the steel grade 4330V, and in assisting ABS in specifying the optimum sample testing location for assessing the forging’s mechanical properties and Charpy impact values.

“The ABS 2009 Approval for First Subsea’s mooring connectors is the culmination of many years of investment both financial, and time and effort by our dedicated team of engineers.

Customers can be assured of the quality and engineering integrity of First Subsea’s connectors as operators look to extend the life of their deepwater permanent moorings,” says John Shaw, managing director, First Subsea.

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Vessels Seven Viking The Seven Viking has been unveiled and named at a ceremony in Stavanger, Norway, by Subsea 7, Eidesvik Offshore and Ulstein.

The ICE-C class vessel with a crew capacity of 90 and a top speed of 17 knots, will work for Statoil on a five year contract. It has been custombuilt according to the operator’s specifications to carry out tasks including inspection, maintenance and repair of subsea installations in addition to scale treatment The Seven Viking incorporates the X-BOW® hull line design to reduce motion in transit and gives increased stability in the potentially high waves that characterise the North Sea. Despite this enviable stability usually associated with size, this version of the Ulstein SX148 design has been crafted to be compact in stature – measuring only 106.5m long and 24.5ms wide.

The dimensions will allow the Seven Viking to manoeuvre with ease in confined spaces, such as between

platforms, accessing difficult to reach areas.

Thanks to a clever configuration whereby hull space is maximised and equipment is integrated within a large hangar area, the Seven Viking and its crew have the ability to carry all necessary maintenance equipment on board, ensuring that operational downtime is kept to a minimum.

giving a full overview of this key activity area. The Seven Viking has been developed to meet the highest working environment standards, and is classified as a comfort class COMF-V (3) vessel.

Minimal noise levels in the hangar have been achieved by opting for electric winches for the ROVs, the MHS and other utility equipment.

Safety, efficiency and environmental considerations have been the prime focus for the three partners when developing the Seven Viking, which carries the Clean Design notation.

Notable environmental initiatives include diesel electric propulsion, which reduces atmospheric emissions, and the electrical winches which nullify the risk of emissions of hydraulic oil.

A customised module handling system (MHS) has been integrated in the ship’s hangar for the safe launch and retrieval of subsea modules weighing up to 70 tons through the moon pool.

Main dimensions • Length overall • Breadth moulded • Depth to main deck • Max. draught • Design draught • Deadweight max • Deck area • Deck strength • Gross tonnage • Net tonnage

To facilitate cooperation and communication, all operational personnel are gathered in one area adjacent to the hangar, with panoramic windows in the control room

106.5m 24.5 m 11.5 m 8.0m 6.5m 4,982t 850m² 10 t/m² 11 266t 3379t

Seven Viking

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UT3 February 2013

Vessels Deep Orient Technip has officially named its latest new vessel Deep Orient, at a ceremony in Vigo, Spain. The newbuild medium construction vessel, will be dedicated to subsea construction and flexible pipelay projects.

The initial contracts were agreed in December 2010 and fabrication, as well as assembly, started in mid2011. After final outfitting and commissioning, sea trials were successfully completed.

The Deep Orient is equipped with a National Oilwell Varco 250t heave compensated constant tension knuckleboom main crane, dynamic positioning (DP2) station-keeping capability, two work-class remotely operated vehicles and a large 1900m2 deck area for ample storage of equipment while working on remotely located projects. Moreover, she can accommodate 120 people and complies with the latest marine environmental standards.

The Deep Orient will mobilise at Technip’s facility in Le Trait, France before undertaking her first projects in Norway.

The Deep Orient has an overall length of 135.65m, a moulded breadth of 27m and a depth of 9.7m to main deck. Its operating draught is 6.85m.

It houses a pair of Triton XLX150 remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) that can be rail-launched. The vessel has a 7.2m2 moon pool.

It has a pair of 3500kW Azipull thrusters, a 1500kW retractable thrusters and two tunnel thrusters. Its service speed is 13kts at transit draught.

UT3 February 2013

Deep Orient

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STX OSV Vessels STX OSV has secured a new contract for the design and construction of an offshore subsea construction vessel (OSCV) for DOF Subsea. The vessel will be of OSCV 12 design, developed by STX OSV in Ålesund, Norway. It will have a total length of approximately 161m and a beam of 32m. Delivery is scheduled from STX OSV Søviknes in 1Q 2015. The hull will be delivered from STX OSV Tulcea in Romania.

Vessel for DOF Subsea STX OSV has also secured a new contract for the design and construction an OSCV for Farstad Shipping This newbuilding, designed for subsea and Inspection, Maintenance and Repair (IMR) operations, is part of Farstad’ Shipping’s fleet development within the subsea market. The value of the contract amounts to approximately NOK 800 million.

The vessel will be of STX OSV’s OSCV 07 design with a total length of 143m, beam of 25m and a deck area of more than 1,800 m². It is equipped with two offshore cranes, of which the larger one has a lifting capacity of 250 tons. The vessel is arranged for 3 Remote Operating Vehicles (ROVs) and can accommodate 130 persons. Delivery is scheduled from STX OSV Langsten in 1Q 2015. The hull will be delivered from STX OSV Tulcea in Romania.

OSCV 07 design

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UT3 February 2013

Vessels Reach

Toisa

Solstad Offshore ASA (SOFF) has entered into a new contract with STX OSV AS for building of a construction service vessel (CSV) of type OSCV 03.

Toisa has signed a contract with Hyundai Heavy Industries for the construction of a multipurpose offshore construction vessel designed by Ulstein.

The vessel is the first with X-BOW hull line design to be built in Korea, and is a customized version of Ulstein’s Deepwater Enabler design.

In addition, the charterer has option to extend the contract with further 3 x 1 year. The value of the firm part of the contract is approximately NOK 650 mill.

This includes a fully active heave compensated (AHC) offshore crane rated at 900 tonnes SWL with a depth capability of 3500m and a second, knuckleboom, crane of 200 tonnes SWL with depth capability of 2000m. Furthermore the vessel has the ability to accommodate a 550t flex lay tower over the main 8.4 by 8.4m moon pool, and having two 2500t capacity carousel spaces below deck.

Reach Subsea represents a new client for Solstad Offshore, and is an exciting addition to a growing subsea market. Although the company is young, the people and management team in Reach Subsea are well known to Solstad Offshore and to the subsea market.

New design for Toisa

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The new vessel is 121 meters long, 23 meters wide and has a working deck of approximately 1.300 square meters. The vessel will be equipped with a subsea crane with 250 ton lifting capacity and a cabin capacity of 100 persons.

The vessel is designed according to the latest environmental standards with focus on low fuel consumption, and precautions in accordance with the Det Norske Veritas’ (DNV’s) Clean Design requirements are incorporated in the design.

With this new investment, Solstad Offshore own and operates 21 subsea construction vessels, of which 2 are under construction. All are chartered to subsea contractors worldwide. In addition the Solstad fleet consist of 22 anchor handling vessels (AHTS) and 9 platform supply vessels (PSV).

OSCV vessel for Solstad Offshore ASA

World Diamond Damen Shipyards has launched the World Diamond, the first of a series of six fully equipped platform supply vessels for Norwegian offshore company World Wide Supply. The PSV 3300 series is part of Damen´s newly designed range of platform suppliers.

To reduce the environmental impact of its vessels and improve efficiency at the same time, Damen adheres to its E3 principles: Environmentally friendly, Efficient in operation and Economically viable. Combining the needs of the planet, the people operating the ship and the owner’s need to make a profit, the need for a new design emerged. Hull

Like the other five ships, The World Diamond was built and completed in Galati in cooperation with Damen Shipyards Gorinchem which provided the design, engineering and main equipment.

Characteristics • Total length 80.10 m •Breadth 6.20 m •Draught 6.15.m •Deadweight 3300 t •Max deck weight 400 t •Classification LRS Crew 16 •Speed 13.7 kts

The main purpose of the vessel is transport of different cargoes (fuel, drinking water, salt brine, cement, barite, drilling mud, drilling pipes, etc.) and crews to and from offshore drilling rigs and production platforms in support of hydro carbon exploration and production activities.

World Diamond

The PSV 3300 can also carry conventional containers on deck for diverse cargo.

Furthermore, this DP2 platform supplier has fire-fighting capabilities and is provided with oil recovery equipment.

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UT3 February 2013

Vessels IHC Packhorse IHC Merwede has introduced of a new series of IHC Packhorse offshore support vessels. The range consists of a platform support vessel (PSV) and the IHC Packhorse-Maxi, which is a variant on the basic hull form, providing a 59-person accommodation unit and a range of options designed for subsea support on IRM work, light construction and cablelaying projects.

The new IHC Packhorse range will initially be built through the cooperation agreement established between IHC Merwede and Jaya Holdings. This is a cost-effective mid-size vessel, which offers a reduced build time and flexibility in the selection and configuration of mission equipment by virtue of its modular construction. The IHC Packhorse range represents the first move to extend our product portfolio into the volume market, while continuing to be a dependable partner for offshore operators.

The IHC Packhorse represents a vessel, which has been optimised through discussions with operators and charter companies to meet the needs of deepdrilling and deep-water support. Its main features are a large working deck, a fuelefficient hull form, optimised power distribution and a flexible tank configuration.

The same platform is used for the IHC Packhorse-Maxi, which has dual-stability books for operation as a non-SPS PSV at deeper draught. It has also been designed for the easy retrofitting of a heli-deck and is pre-strengthened to accommodate a 100-tonne heave compensated crane. The large deck can carry various mission spreads, including diving support, ROV operation and cable laying, with portable equipment designed and manufactured by IHC Merwede or as specified by the customer.

The IHC Packhorse utilises a low-cost highly efficient solution for the power distribution system developed by IHC Drives & Automation (part of IHC Merwede).

Portable dive systems and cablelay solutions are available for the IHC PackhorseMaxi from two of IHC Merwede’s other business units, IHC Hytech and IHC Engineering Business. This ensures the efficient integration of the equipment into the vessel’s operating systems.

IHC Packhorse offshore support vessels

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UT3 February 2013

Vessels Vroon Vessels

VOS Sugar Vroon has ordered a subsea-support vessel (SSV) newbuilding at Fujian Southeast Shipyard in China, with an option in place for a second vessel.

The new vessel, to be named VOS Sugar, is a modern SSV with retractable thruster and super‑silent tunnel thruster, providing a high standard of comfort for both passengers and crew. She is scheduled for delivery

in early 2015 and will be operated by Vroon Offshore Services B.V. in Den Helder.

including a crane installation, the vessel will be available for employment in the North Sea from mid-February 2013.

This follows the two SSVs built at the Shipyard in 2012 for Vroon Offshore Services (VOS Shine and VOS Sweet).

VOS Sugar Length o.a.

68 m Beam 14.95 m DP Class Class 2, ABS Accommodation 50 Special Class Notations (ABS) SPS, GREENPASSPORT, ENVIRO, MLC 2006

The VOS Sweet arrived in the Netherlands today, Thursday 3 January 2013 and after some final fitting work ,

VOS Sweet

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REVEALING UNDERWATER DIGITAL STILLS

OE14-208 Image courtesy of MARE/TNC/CSUMB

The all new OE14-408 Digital Stills Camera from Kongsberg Maritime provides superb image and colour quality and a range of improved features: Increased 10 Megapixel Resolution an nge Improved Colour Depth and Dynamic Range

OE14-408 Digital Stills Camera shown with the OE11-242 Flashgun

On-the-Fly USB or Ethernet Image Download n nload Flexible Control Interfaces Compact Housing When used in conjunction with Kongsberg Maritime’s dedicated Flashgun (OE11-242) the TTL through-lens flash metering gives accurate exposure control allowing you to capture strikingly revealing images.

Kongsberg Maritime Ltd Telephone: +44 1224 226500 Email: km.systems.uk@kongsberg.com www.km.kongsberg.com/cameras

OE14-208 Image courtesy of MARE/TNC/CSUMB

Discover more at Stand N1 5 - 7 April, 2011

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UT3 February 2013

Cables and Umbilicals Aasta Hansteen

Quad 204

Aker Solutions has signed a contract with Statoil for the supply of deepwater umbilicals to the Aasta Hansteen field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The contract value is approximately NOK 280 million.

Solutions is proud to be part of this major project and we look forward to safeguarding valuable infrastructure and securing production success,” says Tove Røskaft, head of Aker Solutions’ umbilicals business.

Aker Solutions’ scope of work includes the design, engineering and manufacturing of dynamic and static umbilicals, a riser base and ancillary equipment.

Aasta Hansteen is a deepwater project consisting of the three structures Luva, Haklang and Snefrid South at a water depth of 1300 metres. The structures are located 300 km west of Bodø and 140 km north of the nearest existing offshore infrastructure Norne.

The steel tube umbilicals will be manufactured and delivered out of Aker Solutions’ facility in Moss, Norway, supported by project management, design and engineering in Fornebu, Norway. The umbilical riser base will be manufactured at Aker Solutions’ facility in Egersund.

“The Aasta Hansteen field represents an important milestone in harsh environment development on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Aker

The planned field development for Aasta Hansteen includes a SPAR platform, which will be the first such installation on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

SPAR is a floating installation consisting of a vertical column moored to the seabed. The installation features conventional topsides with processing facilities.

Oceaneering International it has secured an order from BP Exploration to supply umbilicals for BP’s Quad 204 field development west of Shetland, United Kingdom.

This order adds over $45 million to Oceaneering’s Subsea Products backlog.

The order is for two riser and five infield umbilicals totaling approximately 1km (11.8 miles) in length. These will be used to supply electrical and hydraulic power and chemical injection to subsea trees and production manifolds located at the Quad 204 drill centres.

HVDC Nexans has been awarded a contract in excess of euro80 million by Nalcor Energy, for a submarine high-voltage direct current (HVDC) cable in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

The contract includes the manufacture, supply and laying of approximately 100 km of subsea HVDC cable and accessories to interconnect Labrador and Newfoundland, via the Strait of Belle Isle, which will deliver power from Muskrat Falls in Labrador to the island of Newfoundland.

The Nexans submarine HVDC cable form part of the new HVDC transmission link, rated at 900 MW and having a total length of 1100 km. A key purpose and rationale for this transmission link is to put in place infrastructure to bring power from Labrador to the island portion of the province to meet the growing electricity needs in the province.

The HVDC cables will be manufactured at NVC, Nexans’ factory in Tokyo, Japan.

Nexans will supply: three lengths of mass impregnated submarine power cables rated at 350 kilovolt (kV), with an integrated fibre optic element; three underground cables that will be used for the land connections at either side of the strait. The subsea HVDC cables will be installed with Nexans’ own installation vessel, the C/S Nexans Skagerrak.

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News

LS Cable in Europe Product manufacturing is planned to be performed in three phases at the Oceaneering Umbilical Solutions facility in Rosyth, Scotland.

The first phase is scheduled to commence in the first quarter of 2013 and the third phase is anticipated to be completed in the second quarter of 2015.

This order is the first issued by BP under a ten-year term Global Subsea Hardware Umbilical Agreement executed between BP and Oceaneering during the third quarter of 2012.

Oceanteam Carousel Oceanteam Shipping ASA has taken up one of its options and ordered a new, OTS design, 2000t modular carousel.

The new patented OTS carousel series are designed for flexibility and quick mobilisation on standard modern PSV/ CSV type vessels with limited deck load capacity for this type of equipment.

The modular systems are delivered to the mobilisation site in 40ft containers and can be mobilised without vessel under deck reinforcement requirements. All system components are ‘plug and play’ and interchangeable.

The 2000t carousel is delivered in such a way that it can be extended to a 4000t load capacity carousel in a short period of time.

LS Cable & System will supply 150kV level submarine cables, 150kV and 275kV extra high-voltage underground cable and connection materials to Dong Energy – the largest wind power generation company in Europe.

LS Cable & System’s submarine cables will be used in an offshore wind power generation complex to be built in Westermost Rough on the Southeastern Coast of the U.K. by Dong Energy and the extra high-voltage underground cables will be used to transmit electric energy generated in the wind power generation complex and sent to the land area to an inland transmission site.

With the order, LS Cable & System is making an official entry into Europe, the world’s most advanced offshore wind power generation market. The scale of European offshore wind power generation market is forecast to more than double from $13.5 billion in 2012 (approx. KRW 14.8 trillion) to $30 billion in 2020 (KRW 32.8 trillion).

Accordingly, the submarine cable market is expected to grow exponentially and, thus LS Cable & System is forecasting a sales increase in the European submarine cable market following its recent performance in the U.S. and the Middle East.

The global submarine cable market displayed a rapid growth from a scale of KRW 1.5 trillion in 2008 to KRW 3 trillion in 2011.

LS Cable & System obtained an order for a KRW 500 billion project from Qatar, the largest export contract in the history of Korean cable industry, in 2012 and has collectively obtained an order for and completed a submarine cable project at the end of 2011 for successful power supply between Long Island and Captree Island in the Eastern part of New York in the U.S. Moreover, LS Cable & System continually won orders for major submarine cable projects, such as a project to install 20kV submarine power cables for 10km section from Tidore to Turnate in the northern archipelago of Indonesia and a project to install 33kV submarine cables for urban electrification project in Sarawak of Malaysia.

In Korea, the company has successfully completed a 250kV submarine cable installation project for 105km section from Jeju-do and Jindo, a project to install submarine power network system between Hwawon and Anjwa, a project to build a pilot wind power generation complex in Woljeong-ri, Jeju-do

As a result of this new philosophy the equipment can be transported and mobilised to any port around the world in a cost effective manner. ‘’Based on our successful delivery of the1250t modular carousel in April 2012 and its well-executed projects since, we wanted to fulfil the demand on larger size modular carousels and by doing that cover a full range of solutions, says CEO of Oceanteam Shipping, Haico Halbesma’’.

OTS carousel

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UT3 February 2013

Cables and Pipelines Plastic Reeled Elastic Pipelay Ecosse Subsea Systems has unveiled what it claims to be a ‘game-changing’ pipelay technology.

The subsea company firm developed and patented a rigid pipelay system which can be deployed from smaller, more readily available vessels and which will slash schedules and installation costs for pipe-laying projects The new technology follows on from the success of Ecosse’s SCAR subsea trenching plough, which has exceeded performance targets and established the company as an innovator which can transcend both the traditional oil and gas sector and the emerging renewables market.

Traditionally rigid pipelay projects rely on very expensive pipelay systems which are embedded into dedicated and sophisticated vessels which command hefty hire rates in the region of £250k plus per day.

These large systems require extensive deck strengthening on the vessel and the systems usually take a minimum of 14 days to install, more normally the major components have to be designed into the vessel from the outset.

Ecosse Subsea’s PREP (Plastic Reeled Elastic Pipelay) system is a modular system used for the laying of reeled rigid pipe (on a project by project basis) from smaller vessels and can be installed within 48 hours.

PREP uses many of the same components as a conventional pipelay system but its innovative component assembly avoids the need to be mounted on a specialist pipelay vessel, while offering flexibility, mobility and reduced cost, both in terms of the pipelay system itself and also associated vessel costs.

The PREP system takes advantage of the underutilised elastic properties of

steel pipe to be able to lay pipe from smaller vessels and the huge fleeting tower that is the dominant feature in conventional systems is not required.

PREP’s flexibility addresses one of the major barriers to entry into the conventional pipelay market - capital investment in suitable pipelay vessels, spool bases and global infrastructure.

Ecosse Subsea Systems managing director, Mike Wilson, said: “PREP is an enabling technology which will allow market entry for a wider range of participants, principally the Tier 2 Contractors.

“The real value however is for Operators who will have access to an expanded choice of contractors and control over installation schedules.

“The PREP system it is not restricted to spending a full pipe-laying season within one geographic region in order to make any trip financially viable.

It is easily transported, containerised, and can be deployed to various geographic locations within the same pipe-laying season, leading to significant cost savings for Operators who would otherwise have to wait six months or more before their pipelaying requirements can be met.

m-Pipe Magma Global has announced that it has delivered an m-pipe spool to EnQuest for its upgrade work on the Thistle Platform in the UK North Sea. The m-pipe spool will replace a section of existing steel pipe in the Water Injection header system.

Nigel Hares COO at EnQuest comments; “m-pipe is a very interesting product which has the potential to bring substantial operational benefits and associated cost savings in the future.

Plastic Reeled Elastic Pipelay

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Plastic Reeled Elastic Pipelay Fendercare Marine, suppliers of marine services and products, has launched a new range of piggyback saddles to assist pipeline installation for the offshore industry.

The new piggyback saddles are made of polyurethane elastomer, a highly flexible, low friction material which Fendercare Marine has extensive experience of using in the design and supply of products to the offshore industry.

Piggyback saddles – alongside clamps and spacers – can act as a shaped interface between a pipeline and a cylindrical buoyancy tank, to ensure the tank rides comfortably and safely on top of the pipeline during the laying operation.

They can also act as separators during parallel lay installations and are most frequently used when smaller secondary umbilicals or pipelines need to run along the top of the main pipeline in piggyback formation.

Polyurethane elastomer is recognised as the best material for such installation aids, as it is easily mouldable, neutrally buoyant in seawater, easily installed on deck and well suited to long-term

This implementation on Thistle gives us the opportunity to gain experience with the technology in a relatively benign environment as part of our strategy to lead in innovative developments.”

Magma Global aims to increase reliability and enable innovative pipeline solutions for the exploration and production of subsea oil and gas through: l significantly improving performance and durability l enabling the optimisation of production architectures

subsea deployment without the risk of degradation of material.

Fendercare Marine, currently celebrating 25 years of trading, is offering the piggyback saddles as a bespoke solution to individual project requirements.

From design and analysis through manufacture and testing to supply, there is a choice of banding materials such as Monel, Inconel, Carbon Steel, Titanium or others as demanded by project requirements, together with a supply of banding installation tools.

Fendercare Marine have divisions which are involved in marine installation and diving operations, and they have drawn upon this in-house knowledge to develop solutions which are as operator-friendly as they can be either on the barge or the sea-bed.

Offshore Business Development Manager Chris Sparrow said “We are delighted that we’re now able to offer a consultative, best-in-class solution within this area of the pipelaying operation.

The demand for this product has

Piggyback saddle already exceeded our expectations, with orders already coming in fast.

This product is a natural extension of our development over the past few years of some unique and highly advantageous materials for the construction of pipelaying buoyancy modules.

l reducing capital and operational costs l reducing deployment costs l reducing environmental impact l extending field life

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m Pipe

UT3 February 2013

Pipelines Polarled Polarled is a new 480km gas pipeline from Aasta Hansteen to Nyhamna. The pipeline facilitates the development of Aasta Hansteen and other fields in the Norwegian Sea. The project includes expansion of the Shell-operated gas plant at Nyhamna. A separate pipeline between Polarled and the Kristin platform will connect new infrastructure to existing infrastructure on Haltenbanken (Åsgard Transportation). In addition preparations will be made for the tiein of existing and future discoveries in the area.

Statoil has awarded Marubeni Itochu/ JFE contracts for fabricating linepipe for the Polarled pipeline, Wasco for applying coating, and Allseas for pipelaying.The coating contract include the establishement of a new production base in Mo i Rana, Northern Norway.

and buckle arrestors. Until the pipe laying in 2015, there will be produced 325 000t steel for the 482 km long pipeline. The steel pipe will be 36in diameter and shall be laid down to a 1265m water depth, which is the world’s deepest operation laying this size of pipe.

The pipes will then be shipped from the supplier in Japan to Malaysia, where they are applied flow coating on the inside and anti-corrosion coatings on the outside.

Moreover the pipes will be shipped to Mo i Rana for application of exterior concrete weight coating to protect the pipelines, before they are stored until the pipeline installation in 2015. The coating contract is estimated to NOK 1.2 billion. Wasco will use existing buildings in Mo i Rana (Mo Industrial

Estimated contract value for the three contracts in total is NOK 4 billion. No other oil/gas pipeline of this dimension has ever been laid at these water depths before. The. “The Norwegian Sea is an exciting area on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Polarled underpins this.

Establishing new infrastructure increases the possibilities of the discoveries already made, and at the same time paves the way for further exploration and development of future discoveries,” says Rune Bjørnson, Statoil’s head of Natural Gas. “Experienced local companies will provide services to Polarled such as goods from land, buildings, port services, construction, maintenance, logistics and raw materials for the production process. Locally in Mo i Rana, it is estimated a need for about 50 employees locally in the production period until 2015,” says Statoil’s Chief Procurement Officer, Jon Arnt Jacobsen.

The order for steel at approximately NOK 2 billion includes pipes, bend

UT3 February 2013

Aasta Hansteen

44

Park) to establish the factory for application of concrete coating.

The pipe laying contract has a value of NOK 750 million, and preliminary engineering work has already started.

A dynamic positioned lay vessel without the use of anchors will be utilised. The pipeline installation will start by pulling in the pipe at Nyhamna in March 2015 and ends with lay down at Aasta Hansteen Q3 2015.

The contracts awarded are subject to regulatory approval of the project, which is expected first half of 2013.

Statoil delivered late 2012 a Plan for installation and operation (PIO) to the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy together with the other partners in Polarled. The investment for the Polarled development is estimated to NOK 25 billion

Polarled Pipeline Project

Asterix

Aasta Hansteen

Bodø

~1300 m

~400 m

Tee (future)

Arctic circ le

66.5° Mo i Rana

36”

Victoria Zidane

Sandnessjøen Tee (future)

Heidrun

Fogelberg Kristin

Brønnøysund

18” ~300 m

Linnorm Draugen

Namsos

36”

Trondheim Kristiansund Nyhamna

Molde

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UT3 February 2013COS_121029

AUVs Knifefish Variant

2 Gavias for NCS NCS Survey has expanded its growing autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) fleet with the purchase of two Teledyne Gavia AUVs. These are the latest in the Gavia Offshore Surveyor series and are equipped with high-resolution side scan sonar, a multi-beam echo sounder, a sub-bottom profiler, an ultra-short baseline positioning system, long baseline (LBL), GPS and an inertial navigation system.

The AUVs are used to provide ultra-high-resolution data for pipeline and platform inspections; scour monitoring surveys; cable and pipe route surveys; and offshore wind farm surveys. For three years, NCS Survey has operated these vehicles in difficult access and remote areas including the southern tip of Argentina.

Additionally, the company has a high level of repeat business from clients like Shell, BP and ConocoPhillips.

The vehicles are rated to 1000m but regularly operate in depths as shallow as 2m. They can perform in currents of more than 2kts, under jackup drilling rigs and very close to fixed platform structures. Their modularity offers ease of transportation as no module weighs more than 25kg in its transit case.

Bluefin Robotics will produce a variation of the Knifefish UUV for the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Knifefish is a specialised Bluefin-21 UUV that is being developed for the Surface Mine Countermeasure Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (SMCM UUV) programme for which Bluefin is under subcontract to General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems.

The vehicle will be used to advance NRL’s low-frequency broadband (LFBB) payload technology and support their broader mission to advance basic and applied research in undersea warfare.

In addition to many of the Knifefish features, NRL’s new vehicle will be equipped with two-way iridium communications, specialized sensors, and empty sections that will accommodate their acoustic payload, including a towed receiver array, and a reacquisition capability. Bluefin will also deliver topside support equipment and graphicaluser interface software tools.

“The addition of these Gavia AUVs to our fleet is a reflection of a growing demand from current and potential clients for AUV services in 2012,” said NCS Survey president Andy Gray.

“As a global leader in the use of this equipment, we are constantly growing and expanding in accordance to our clients’ demands.

Knifefish AUV

Teledyne Gavia AUVs

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Bluefin with AutoTracker Bluefin Robotics and SeeByte have announced their collaboration to provide enhanced software solutions for deepwater export pipeline inspections.

Bluefin’s 21-inch AUV

The collaboration is aimed at equipping Bluefin’s 21in AUV platforms with SeeTrack AutoTracker.

SeeTrack AutoTracker was developed to enable AUVs to perform export pipeline inspections using on-board payload sensors to detect pipelines. It can also automatically adjust the vehicle’s trajectory to optimally track the pipeline.

The combination of Bluefin’s vehicle stability and navigation capabilities along with SeeTrack AutoTracker’s ability to accurately guide the AUV at a pre-defined offset from the pipeline stands to provide an excellent data product for rapid and efficient pipeline inspection.

Using SeeByte’s SeeTrack Auto-

Tracker software package on the Bluefin-21 AUV will further expand subsea inspection capabilities and provide valuable information to decision-makers.

“This collaboration enables operational cost savings by using enhanced data acquisition techniques for pipeline inspection.” commented Omer Poroy, Vice President of Business Development at Bluefin Robotics.

Aurora Towfish International Submarine Engineering has been awarded a contract from MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates. (MDA)for two commercial off-the-shelf, high speed Aurora Towfish,which will be used to support mine detection missions and route survey operations for the Royal Canadian Navy’s Maritime Coastal Defence Vessels.

The Aurora towfish

The Aurora towfish will include modifications to integrate new sensors and navigation equipment, including an L3 Klein sidescan sonar, and an R2Sonic bathymetric multibeam echosounder.

The modular design of the vehicle makes it a simple matter to exchange sonar payloads.

The Aurora towfish has been proven as a viable component of the Royal Canadian Navy’s Route Survey strategy. In conjunction with the Dorado Semi-submersible Technical Demonstrator, Aurora has been used in many sea trials, demonstrations and evaluations since 1999.

Further capabilities of Aurora were demonstrated during an evaluation in Esquimalt January 2008. There, Aurora was integrated and tested with the HMCS WhiteHorse Route Survey System Payload.

47

Trials in Saanich Inlet, and the approaches to Esquimalt Harbour demonstrated Aurora’s capability to deploy various sonar modules in operational survey conditions.

UT3 February 2013

Survey MMT Coastal Survey MMT has just completed a coastal survey in connection to the planned Kårehamn wind farm.

Baltic Offshore contracted MMT for a coastal survey, including multibeam survey. A marine cable will connect the new Kårehamn wind farm to the island of Öland. The new bathymetric chart will aid planning and execution of the forthcoming job.

The survey objectives were to update

the existing bathymetric chart over the area and to be used during cable laying operations. When the Kårehamn wind farm is completed in 2013, it will be one of the largest offshore wind farms in Swedish waters.

MMT was also awarded a cable route survey contract by Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission plc (SHE Transmission) for the HVDC cable re-route survey from Shetland to the Caithness landfall.

SHE Transmission, which is part of the SSE Group, is planning to install a HVDC cable system between Shetland and Caithness, on the Scottish mainland, to accommodate proposed renewable energy developments in Shetland.

MMT´s survey vessel Franklin

In 2008 and 2010 MMT Sweden AB (former known as Marin Mätteknik AB) performed a geophysical, geotechnical and environmental survey of the

AUV62 Saab has signed a contract on delivery of autonomous underwater vehicles systems, AUV62, in training configuration.

The order has a total value of SEK 269 million and comprises supply and long term maintenance and support of AUV62, the latest version of the advanced training target for Anti Submarine Warfare (ASW) training.

The AUV62 is an artificial acoustic target that mimics a submarine in a way that is compatible with any torpedo- and sonar system on the market today. It fully replaces the use of a submarine in the role as a manoeuvring training target.

System deliveries will take place during 2014 and 2015, followed by long term maintenance and support of the systems.

UT3 February 2013

AUV62

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previous design route for this cable system. The data presented large areas determined unsuitable for cable laying and a re-routing survey was therefore required.

Geophysical, geotechnical and environmental data will be collected along the new re-routing sections.

MMT survey vessel Seabeam will perform the near shore survey at the Sinclairs Bay landfall and Franklin will be operated for the offshore areas.

Together with the data collected during the previous survey campaigns a combined corridor between 1000m and 3500m in width along the length of the route will be presented.

The objective of the cable route survey is to determine water depth, sediment structure, identify seabed features and obstructions and to collect data for environmental and archaeological assessments.

Multiplexers SubConn速 and OptoLink connectors as standard

Comprehensive diagnostic features

Operates on one coax or fibre optic cable

20 year track record

Worldwide solutions Denmark Norway United Kingdom USA France Netherlands

Germany Brazil Bahrain

Australia

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Singapore

UT3 February 2013

Subsea Equipment Pan and Tilt Subsea engineering company OceanTools has released a range of electric pan & tilt units suitable for a wide variety of underwater applications and budgets.

The rugged PT330 units have been designed for harsh environments and are suitable for long-term deployments. With three versions available: Mini, Heavy Duty and Echoscope Kit (ESK) for CodaOctopus Echoscope sonar applications, all variants are 3000MSW depth rated and pressure compensated. The PT330’ range is available in both hard-anodised aluminium and stainless-steel.

The range is manufactured using extremely high quality components including low back-lash harmonic drives, brushless DC motors and heavy duty bearings on the output shafts.

The PT330s have a load capacity range of 10-25kg, allowing the mounting of the heaviest of camera and light configurations and sonars.

Camera and sonar applications are aided by the unit’s ability to operate in the horizontal and vertical axis simultaneously enabling smooth footage capture and reduced sonar smear.

Electric pan & tilt units Controlled via PC or laptop, OceanTools SmartNET P&T, cameras and LED lighting controller software presents a highly innovative and simple to use graphical user interface that gives the operator an exceptionally controlled and intuitive experience.

twisted pair and single 24VDC power supply and controlled via the SmartNET protocol. Illuminate the target or floodlight the whole work space by daisy chaining up to 16 OceanTools high intensity OceanLED lights together.

With on screen high accuracy positional feedback, the operator can command and display parameters such as go-to-a-position, limit end-stops, return to home, control pan & tilt angular rate and multiple user labelled saved positions. Operations are enhanced by a range of selectable view screens.

Through SmartNET, isolate or group them together while adjusting the dimmable LED lights to suit the operation.

The PT330s are controlled by telemetry or optional direct voltage. Multiple PT330s can be connected to a single

The PT330s are complemented by the SP330 range of high-performance subsea positioning devices. The single axis movement units offer either rotate or tilt positioning and are engineered to the same core technical specifications as the PT330 series.

ROV and Diver Operated Underwater Switch The extremely rugged and reliable C-Switch is a multipurpose quarter turn subsea switch for electrical and ‘master switch’ applications. Designed for ROV or diver operation, the chemically inert and corrosion free C-Switch is engineered for harsh environments and is suitable for long-term deployment.

When used as a ‘Master On/Off’ switch the unit may extend the operating life of e.g. a battery pack by isolating it. C-Switch has positive détentes in both ‘Off and On’ positions ensuring shock and vibration do not interfere with its required position or operation.

Easily mounted and available with options to 7000m the unit is engineered to ISO-13628 requirements and switches up to 4Amps at 24VDC and 4Amps at 120VAC via non-contact switching.

C-Switch includes Normally Open & Normally Closed contacts as standard.

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Multipurpose quarter turn subsea switch

T.TSS UT2 Advert

12/11/12

11:31

Page 1

Accelerated AUV production Hydroid has announced today that its contract to provide Littoral Battlespace Sensing (LBS) AUVs to the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) has moved directly from the Engineering Development Model (EDM) phase to full rate production (FRP).

Remus 600-S autonomous underwater vehicle.

The decision to make the rare move from the EDM phase directly to FRP was made by the U.S. Navy’s Milestone Decision Authority (MDA), the Navy’s Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence (PEO C4I), after more than a year of extensive testing and evaluation determined that Hydroid’s LBS-AUV systems were ready for deployment.

In response to the MDA’s approval, SPAWAR has ordered the immediate production of three LBS AUVs (REMUS 600s) and one Shipset, including a launch and recovery system (LARS), a LARS flat rack, a mission van, a maintenance van and vehicle support equipment.

The AUVs ordered by SPAWAR will be equipped with advanced technologies for the collection of oceanographic and meteorological data, as well as technologies for processing and dissemination of these data. This technology will enable superior decision-making based on information collected by a system of networked sensors and shared through a network of interoperable Naval and Joint networks information systems.

These on-board instruments will accurately catalogue a wide variety of environmental parameters, and provide environmental data that will play a critical role in supporting worldwide Navy requirements.

The ultimate end user of these AUVs is the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO), which acquires and analyses global ocean and littoral data to provide operationally significant products and services to all elements within the Department of Defense.

“We’re very pleased by the MDA’s decision to grant us accelerated approval for FRP,” said Christopher von Alt, President and co-founder of Hydroid. “We’re grateful to our strong team of partners for their hard work to make this possible, including the program’s sponsor, the Oceanographer of the Navy (CNO N2/N6E). We look forward to continuing this important work with PEO C4I and NAVOCEANO.”

Remus 600-S AUV

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UT3 February 2013

Survey Brazilian Gliders Teledyne Webb Research has delivered the first Slocum G2 glider to Brazil. The glider, purchased for the Coastal Hydrodynamics Laboratory at the Oceanographic Institute of the University of Sao Paulo, will eventually be operated by undergraduate and graduate students.

The Slocum glider is an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) driven by a buoyancy engine capable of long-term deployment for measuring oceanographic parameters. The Slocum G2 glider has a maximum depth rating of 1000m, requires very little power to operate and can be deployed for as long as one year.

The glider’s low logistics, high performance characteristics and modular design make it ideally suited for persistent ocean surveillance using a broad range of available sensor suites.

The Slocum glider will be used for sustained monitoring of the ocean over the continental shelf of Sao Paulo State. It will collect conductivity, temperature and depth along with chlorophyll, turbidity and CDOM data.

The glider is outfitted with a CTD, an altimeter, and a FLBBCD sensor for the measurement of CDOM, Chlorophyll and backscatter. The initial glider for the University of Sao Paulo is a 200m depth rated coastal version. Subsequent gliders will be optimized for deeper operation at a maximum 1000m depth.

“The ratio between the number of samples the Slocum glider can take and the cost is very interesting. We can sample a transect more frequently than we can with a ship,” stated Marcelo Dottori, head of the new glider program at the University of Sao Paulo.

He envisions several other researchers in Brazil using the capabilities of the gliders in the future. Two additional gliders are expected to ship to the University later this year.

UT3 February 2013

A Slocum glider

OneOcean Unlocks Big Ocean Data OneOcean Corporation, a technology company devoted to solving the ocean’s big data problem, today announced the beta release of ClipCard, its cloud-based innovation for managing, accessing and exchanging marine geospatial data.

Ocean data can come in more than 100 file formats, reach terabytes in size, and take a week to download.

Users have limited tools for managing their own holdings and even more limited means of exchanging huge files with others.

Because of the sheer magnitude of the data, valuable information remains dormant behind firewalls or on shelves, much of it used only once and then forgotten.

With ClipCard, it is now possible to instantly view and share key information from big ocean data, anytime, anywhere, without the need to transfer the data itself.

ClipCard presents a rich abstract of big data in a useful object that is created anytime data is uploaded

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to the cloud. ClipCard is linked to its source, but is only a fraction of the size, so it can be viewed and shared anywhere. ClipCard helps users understand what big data contains, and gives them the means to transfer the source data through the cloud when they need it.

OneOcean has partnered with Amazon.com, leveraging Amazon Web Services to provide a robust global cloud storage and fulfillment infrastructure. With Amazon’s industryleading web services technology, OneOcean users have multiple options for managing, accessing, and exchanging their data on every continent.

“Data is growing exponentially in volume, velocity, and variety. The challenge is putting it to work efficiently and effectively - getting it out of its silos and into the hands of the people who need it,” said Ed Lazowska, Bill and Melinda Gates Chair of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington.

“OneOcean is working on a promising

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approach that could have a major impact on how big data is managed and shared across industry, academia, and government.”

“Looking at the size of this problem, we asked ourselves: how can we help?” said Don Pickering, CEO of OneOcean.

“ClipCard became our answer. It’s a simple solution that has a lot of potential to change the way people get value from their ocean data. We’re excited about the partners who have already started working with OneOcean to leverage ClipCard with their technologies.”

With data plans starting as low as $25 per month for 50GB of data storage and transfer, OneOcean offers an online service designed for easy use by anyone with ocean data to manage.

For larger organizations, OneOcean offers enterprise-level plans scaling to terabytes of data with a premium services support team ready to assist corporations, universities and government institutions in their efforts to manage and exchange current project data, as well as rediscover and reuse shelved data.

The ClipCard

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UT3 February 2013

Live from the Volcano At about 4 am, on October 10th, 2011, months of frequent and strong seismicity around the Canary Island of El Hierro suddenly ceased, only to be replaced by a disturbingly harmonic tremor, indicating the opening of a volcanic vent. Soon after, dead fish and a large stain of pale coloured water smelling of sulphur could be observed in the waters south of the island.

Occasionally, plumes of water, gasses, ash and juvenile magmatic material would penetrate the surface and spew to an altitude of up to 20m – a major submarine eruption had commenced.

sea. For purposes like this, the Ramón Margalef was equipped with the latest echo sounder technology, sensors, ROV and not least, the Politolana towed camera sledge.

Interfacing the Politolana The Politolana camera sledge is able to descend to 2000m in difficult sea conditions, thanks not least to the relative simplicity of operational requirements and the extreme robustness of its structure. At the heart of this structure sits an equally robust MacArtney NEXUS MK E electrical multiplexer, which is designed and extensively tested to face rough maritime conditions.

A fortnight later, the brand new surveying vessel Ramón Margalef, from the IEO (Spanish Institute of Oceanography), had arrived to the site.

The primary mission of this vessel was to observe, survey and provide detailed information about the eruptive activity occurring under the

Above: Plan of Politolana dive above the lava flow.

Below: Politolana with MacArtney NEXUS MK E Multiplexer

Volcanic eruption near El Hierro

Surveying vessel Ramón Margalef

NEXUS MK E

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Politolana

Carrying the NEXUS MK E subsea bottle, the Politolana was lowered into the actual volcanic eruption and in successive approximations researchers were able to place the underwater vehicle just feet away from the lava flow coming from the volcano.

Here it was subjected to the pyroclastic flows from the crater and to acidic water (pH 4.8).

The vehicle and multiplexer withstood numerous high risk dives and made it possible to obtain valuable information that is continuously being analysed.

Facilitated by the NEXUS multiplexer, IEO was enabled to use multiple items of equipment simultaneously, and considering the literally explosive context, such simultaneous and effective extraction of data was of key priority.

Through the interfacing of multiple live video and photographic signals, the NEXUS MK E allowed IEO to document development, and extract the information through the existing coax cable mounted on the vessels launch and recovery system.

Moreover, the multiplexer was able to interface a set of lasers, used for measuring the size of magma formations and the volcanic crater.

Laser measurement of crater proportions

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UT3 February 2013

Survey

Deep Sea Exploration

by Alfred Wegener Institute The dark side of the moon and the deep-sea regions of the world’s oceans belong to the most inhospitable places imaginable.

Whilst the temperature curve on the dark side of the moon regularly rises to over 130 degrees Celsius, only to drop again to minus 160 degrees Celsius, the deep sea with its darkness, high water pressure and temperatures from zero to 400 degrees Celsius, is similarly most unfriendly to life and technology alike. Nevertheless, both regions have long since kindled the ambitions of discoverers: the dark side of the mood would be an ideal place for telescopes looking into space, and would reveal many a thing about the origins of the Earth’s satellite.

For its part, the deep sea provides a largely unknown habitat full of surprises on our planet. It is to be explored and understood. This is a task which is more important than ever in view of the constantly growing

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Contd from previous page

demand for resources.

However, without the right technology, both the moon and the deep sea will remain areas which are virtually closed to humans on a permanent basis.

For this reason, 15 German space and marine research institutions under the leadership of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, have joined forces in the Helmholtz Alliance “Robotic Exploration under Extreme Conditions” (ROBEX).

They wish to share their respective specialised knowledge with the aim of jointly developing robot technologies which are able to explore the moon and the deep sea independently and primarily over long periods.

“The moon and the deep sea may appear to have little in common at first glance. The fact is, however, that we are faced with the same

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RS Aqua SubCtech technical challenges in the exploration of both regions. Neither for the deep sea nor for the moon has a solution so far been found, for example, as to how robot systems can move and conduct measurements a year long on their own and independently without exhausting their batteries. We seek to learn from each other in this project and jointly develop new ideas”, says Prof. Karin Lochte, scientific director of the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, responsible for project coordination.

MARUM

During the first joint scientific workshop at the Centre for Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM) in Bremen, the project participants now wish to give their partners from the other research field an insight into their own research and explain the status of space or deep-sea technology. Using joint core questions such as those concerning the exploration and examination of extreme habitats, new joint technology projects are to be developed.

“We as deep-sea researchers can learn a great deal from the space travel technologists. One example: working with them we wish to develop a control unit for the new autonomous deep-sea robot systems with which the device recognises any objects lying in its path, such as stones, and avoids them.

RS Aqua has signed an agreement to represent Kiel based SubCtech, the German manufacturer of the PowerPack and OceanPack ranges. The contract appoints RS Aqua as sales and support providers in the UK and Ireland.

With more than 25 years scientific and industry-based experience in marine technology, SubCtech, headed by Dipl.-Phys.

Stefan Marx, focuses on the production of underwater power solutions such as Li-Ion batteries, CO2 analysers and vessel systems to monitor environmental issues. The company is scheduled to re-locate to larger industrial facilities in Kiel on 1st March 2013. l This follows the signing of a collaborative agreement between RS Aqua and Nova Scotia based Iridium hardware and service provider JouBeh Technologies (JouBeh), to provide clients access to their extensive data telemetry and equipment monitoring capabilities.

The venture, which grants product and service rights within the UK and Ireland, is seen a natural progression as more and more RS Aqua clients are using the Iridium service for data reporting and equipment security applications.

“So far we have only been using remote controlled underwater vehicles connected to us via cameras and cables. In future these vehicles are to be able to find their own way over lengthy periods of time and in the best case scenario also learn from errors”, says Dr. Frank Wenzhöfer, deep-sea expert at the Alfred Wegener Institute.

The range of uses for such intelligent and independent robot systems is wide. If the researchers had their way, then in future robots will not only be able to independently take soil samples from deep-sea volcanoes or on the dark side of the moon, but also help to minimise the risks of deep-sea exploration.

“In view of the increasing use of the world’s oceans, we need technologies with which, for example, we can reliably monitor pipelines on the floors of the oceans or the foundations of offshore structures over long periods of time. The ROBEX developments will lay an important foundation stone here”, says ROBEX coordinator Prof. Karin Lochte from the Alfred Wegener Institute.

The Helmholtz Association is supporting the research alliance planned for five years with a total of 15 million euros. The same sum is being contributed by the scientific institutions involved.

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UT3 February 2013

Subsea Equipment Video System 31.5cm (12.4in). The 640 by 480 pixel VGA display has a 12in screen with a 700:1 contrast ratio and a 500 Cd/m2 brightness.

DeepSea Power and Light has developed a camera control unit called the CCU-10 which forms an integral part of its DVS-300 diver video system.

The DVS-300 incorporates two dimmable LED lights; one Nano Seacam; and 100m of polyurethane diver cable.

When divers are working underwater, it is often necessary for surface support engineers, supervisors,etc, to view the images being produced from the camera on the diving helmet.

In large saturation diving vessels, these video images may be displayed on large console screens but for smaller scale, often shallower water operations, it is often more applicable for the video to be viewed from a more mobile station.

Important properties of such a video monitor station would include compactness and being light weight.

Such a monitor would be able to display PAL and NTSC signals and capture audio, video and still images.

Splash proofing would also be useful. Another advantage would be for the system to run on more than one power system.

The new CCU-10 diver monitor

Video System Screen

Starfish Software

USB memory stick on the console

system from DeepSea Power and Light can be powered by either AC main power or with two hotswappable 18V rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries. These can be changed while the unit is on and therefore, without the loss of power to the system.

The system includes both an internal microphone and an external audio input to record diver communication.

Helmet with a pair of lamps

UT3 February 2013

Tritech has announced the latest software interfaces for its range of shallow-water side scan sonar systems, StarFish Seabed Imaging Systems.

The full range of the StarFish 450-Series can now be interfaced directly to HYPACK; this includes the original 450F system, (and hull-mounted 450H option) and now the higher frequency 452F system.

The high-resolution StarFish 990F system, popular with Search and Rescue (SAR) operations and close inspection surveys, is also supported.

One useful feature is the ability to store the data and transfer it to other devices. Recordings and images are saved to a HTML report on USB storage media for easy follow up and distribution

HydroSupport’s mosaicing software application, WinProfile Sharp also now supports the full range of StarFish systems, offering complete real-time processing. Designed for a Windows operating system, WinProfile has been developed by specialists in hydrographic survey.

The CCU-10 video system console weighs 5.4kg (12lbs). It has a length of 36.3cm (14.3ins), a width of 30,2cm (11.9in) and a height of

Tritech’s low-cost, high-performance StarFish Seabed Imaging Systems offer professional systems from entry-level functioning to extended

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Aquatec Aquatec has been awarded a 1.6M NOK contract to supply hydrotest instrumentation and spares for the rental arm of Norwegian subsea company, IKM. Following several years of successful deployments, IKM have upgraded to Aquatec’s latest HYDROlog, AQUAmodem and subsea switch technology to equip their subsea hydrotest data logger spreads.

When new pipelines and subsea infrastructure are installed, they must be tested to ensure that they hold pressure for a period of time.

Aquatec’s HYDROlog instruments are designed to monitor and record ambient temperature and test pressures up to 1000 bar or 15 kpsi down to 4000 m water depth.

features, depending on the required usage. Coupled with such professional software interfaces, as offered within the HYPACK or WinProfile software packages, StarFish users are provided with a cost-effective survey solution for a variety of tasks, from wreck detection to port and harbour surveys.

AQUAmodem The temperature and pressure record can be downloaded when the data logger is recovered to the surface as proof of a successful hydrotest procedure.

out recovering the instrumentation, is a significant benefit.

For deep water operations, logger recovery becomes a time-consuming and therefore costly operation, so the ability to verify the pressure test subsea, with-

Aquatec’s equipment supply includes ROV-readable displays that show the current pressure reading.

The displays can be activated by an ROV light, or switched on using Aquatec’s subsea AQUAswitch.

targets at far greater distances than conventional style frequency monotonic systems. StarFish systems are also operated with ease, offering true plugand-play technology, powered by user-

friendly StarFish Scanline software.

A Software Development Kit (SDK) is also available from the StarFish website to allow users ease of integration into their own software package.

Bernd Koop, Hydrosupport, comments: “We have based the software development of WinProfile Sharp on professional, easy-to-use survey tools, incorporating procedures in logical sequences. The software therefore has great synergy with StarFish, as a true plug-and-play sidescan, survey data can now be processed real-time in a package developed by specialist hydrographers.”

StarFish systems offer three key features: advanced design, highperformance and simple operation.

The signature three-fin hydro-dynamic design offer high-performance shallow water surveys through the application of Compressed High Intensity Radar Pulse (CHIRP) and digital-signal processing (DSP) techniques and are able to identify small, closely spaced

Starfish software interfaces

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UT3 February 2013

Sonar ews Release Steer a safe course with Sonardyne’s new obstacle avoidance sonar Sonardyne International Ltd. has today announced the launch of its new Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Sonar, NOAS, at NAVDEX 2013 in Abu Dhabi. Designed for use on submersible vehicles, NOAS enables faster, safer and more efficient navigation by detecting and classifying potentially hazardous underwater obstacles in its path.

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Obstacle Avoidance Sonar Sonardyne International has launched its new Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Sonar, NOAS. Designed for use on submersible vehicles, NOAS enables faster, safer and more efficient navigation by detecting and classifying potentially hazardous underwater obstacles in its path.

NOAS provides a unique combination of very long range 2D navigation performance, 3D object detection and class leading intruder detection in a single compact sonar. In 2D mode NOAS provides the crucial long range navigation information enabling underwater vessels to steer a safe course. When combined with its 3D capability, the sonar scans the water column to enable more detailed detection and classification of obstacles, and the seabed, in front of the vessel.

The first in a family of products, NOAS has been specifically developed for installation on manned submersibles and swimmer delivery vehicles (SDVs) where available space and power is often restricted. With this in mind, the compact subsea housing contains the 2D array, front-end electronics and processing whilst a separate projector is used if the optional 3D capability is required. NOAS feeds fully-processed sonar images to, and is controlled by, the host platform’s own control system, allowing the user to customise the operator displays to meet the specific needs of the platform and its operational requirements.

Speaking at the launch, Rob Balloch, Strategic Development and Marketing Director at Sonardyne said, “Conventional obstacle avoidance sonars have an operating range of just a few hundred metres so their use is often limited to navigating an SDV or submersible during its final approach to the target. With a range of 1,500 metres and a wide field of view, NOAS redefines the capabilities of forward look sonar technology, allowing pilots to navigate their vehicles at speed with confidence and accuracy.”

NOAS has been engineered by the same team that developed the company’s market leading Sentinel diver detection sonar and this capability has also been incorporated into the system. When the vessel is at a standstill or moving slowly, NOAS continuously monitors the surrounding area for underwater targets and the potential threat they present. The low false alarm detection capabilities of NOAS ensure that only genuine tracks with threatening intent are displayed.

Navigation and Obstacle Avoidance Sonar

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UT3 February 2013

Renewables A major new research project called Geowave has been launched with the aim of crossing the technical and economical hurdles associated with anchoring wave energy devices to the seabed.

Led by the University of Dundee and funded with 1.1million Euros from the European Union FP7 programme, the project also involves the University of Western Australia and University College Cork, together with a number of small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs): Lloyds Register, Seaflex AB, Deep Sea Anchors, Wavebob and Cathie Associates.

“There is great potential for wave power to be a valuable source of renewable energy but if it is to be realised we have to make it robust and cost-effective,” said Dr Jonathan Knappett, Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics at the University of Dundee, who is co-ordinating the project.

“One of the big challenges facing the industry is how wave energy convertors can be safely attached or anchored to the sea bed. Currently this accounts for around one-third of the production costs of convertors.

That cost needs to come down if they are to be used within a fully commercial wave farm.

“If we can reduce the costs associated with station-keeping, then it will go a long way to making wave power an energy source that we can harness more effectively.”

GeoWAVE aims to address this immediate research need by conducting industry-specified research on a new generation of offshore anchors and mooring components deemed to have the highest economical and technical merit for mooring wave energy devices.

The new knowledge generated by the project will be fully assigned to the SME partners in the project, thereby providing new business opportunities.

UT3 February 2013

The new approaches generated within GeoWAVE may also benefit other types of offshore green energy solutions such as floating platforms for offshore wind turbines.

The consortium will apply complementary methodologies in numerical, analytical and experimental modelling combined with field trials to increase the understanding of the combined response of the system and to develop economical and practical design solutions for the wave energy industry.

This 2 year project brings together 3 SMEs, 3 RTD performers and 2 enduser groups from 5 EU member states.

The research approach adopted by the consortium involves using complementary methodologies in numerical, analytical and experimental modelling combined with field trials to increase the understanding of the combined response of the system and to develop economical and practical design solutions for the wave energy industry.

The new knowledge generated by the project will be fully assigned to the SMEs, who will exploit the assigned intellectual property rights by maximising the market opportunity that is considered to open up by 2016.

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1. To investigate the most suitable mooring configurations and components for Wave Energy Convertors that will minimise seabed footprint, motion impedance of the Wavebob WEC and anchor loads.

2. To provide performance data for a new generation of technically efficient anchors that will quantify expected anchor geometries for a given mooring configuration, water depth and seabed profile.

3. To utilise the new performance data from Objective 2 to develop and calibrate design methods for anchor installation, in-service performance of the moorings and anchors and an integrated station keeping tool for the WEC. 4. To utilise design methods from Objective 3 and performance data from Objective 2 to develop costing methods for mooring and anchoring Wavebob WECs at a particular site, permitting an economical viability assessment.

5. To conduct offshore testing to collate field data and verify design methods from Objectives 3 and 4.

The work package involves all administration and management of the project, particularly in relation to ensuring timely

completion of deliverables from the technical work packages (WP2 to WP5) within the planned resource allocation.

The purpose of WP2 is to arrive at an optimal mooring and anchoring configuration which will minimise seabed footprint (and hence component costs), reduce anchor loading (and hence sizes), and reduce the impedance of the motion of the WEC (maximising power transmission).

An initial screening exercise will qualitatively constrain the project to the site conditions (e.g. water depths, seabed properties, environmental loading regime) relevant for Wavebob WEC installations.

Numerical analyses will then be conducted to simulate the response of a number of potential mooring configurations under generic and site specific loading. A key aspect of the work in WP2 is the development of a numerical model that incorporates the Seaflex mooring component to permit realistic dynamic modelling of the mooring.

FoundOcean completes grouting contract FoundOcean has completed the grouting contract for Narec’s Offshore Anemometry Hub (NOAH), under contract to SeaRoc. The NOAH contract was a notable project in another very successful year for FoundOcean which included offshore operations in the United Arab Emirates, South East Asia, Australia, India, the Gulf of Mexico, and Europe, reconfirming their position as the world’s leading offshore structural grouting specialist.

Due to the makeup of the seabed on the NOAH project, the 60m high foundation design was not a typical tripod: it was designed to be secured using a rock socket grouted connection and a grouted pile sleeve connection at each of its legs. This meant that communication between FoundOcean and SeaRoc was essential to ensure the project was completed successfully within the tight project schedule.

The grouting operations took place in two stages.

After the jacket was placed and the 10m deep rock socket was drilled through the pile sleeve, FoundOcean mixed and pumped grout into the socket. Immediately following this, a 24m long pile was lowered through the sleeve into the grout-filled rock socket.

The rock socket grout contained a special retarder to slow the curing rate, and ensure it did not set before the pile was inserted.

The retarder was added via a metred dosing system built into the mixer. The remaining two rock socket connections followed the same procedure.

Once the rock socket connections were established, FoundOcean then injected ordinary Portland cement grout into the three annuli between the piles and the tripod sleeves via connectors above sea level. The offshore operations were completed in 4 days.

The numerical model will be used to optimise the mooring configuration and to define the mudline loads that will be imparted to the anchor.

Numerical and analytical studies of the anchor response will initially focus on quantifying the installation response of the anchors during installation, before analysing the capacity of the anchors as required both during in-service performance (under cyclic environmental loading), and during extreme (storm) events.

WP2 is interdependent on both the physical modelling (WP3), and the field testing (WP4).

Data from the numerical and analytical modelling (WP2), physical modelling (WP3) and offshore field trials (WP4) will be analysed collectively to develop and calibrate design tools for quantifying anchor installation effort required to achieve target anchor embedment depths (in the seabed), and quantifying anchor holding capacity under in-service loading conditions.

The foundation for Narec’s Offshore Anemometry Hub (NOAH)

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UT3 February 2013

Gwynt y Môr Diving Hughes Sub Surface Engineering (HSSE) has won a £5million contract for diving and cable installation support services, creating jobs and bringing investment into the region.

At 576MW, Gwynt y Môr is one of the largest offshore wind farms currently in construction in Europe. It is a shared investment between partners RWE Innogy, Stadtwerke München GmbH and Siemens.

Once fully operational, Gwynt y Môr will generate enough clean green energy to meet the needs of around 400 000 homes and carries with it a community benefit fund of up to £19 million, securing investment into local communities for the next 25 years.

The diving contract has secured work for HSSE’s twenty office-based staff, with 60-80 sub-contractors being employed for the offshore works. They will operate from the specialised offshore construction vessel Normand Tonjer.

HSSE are providing a state of the art diving system on board, including twin launch and recovery systems (LARS), NITROX breathing gases, hot water diving systems and an 1800mm decompression chamber; ensuring maximum productivity on site and limiting downtime due to weather.

Renewables is a key business growth sector in Wales and the likes of Clocaenog Forest wind farm (up to 96MWs), offers significant potential for local companies to secure new contracts within the sector. A report by Cardiff Business School and Manchester-based economic consultants Regeneris outlined that delivery of the Welsh Government renewables agenda could be worth £2.3billion to the Welsh economy and could secure around 2000 jobs a year.

The Normand Tonjer being used by Hughes Sub Surface Engineering

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UT3 February 2013

Interactive Course

Introduction to Reservoir Engineering for Subsea Engineers Tuesday, 5 March 2013 10.00 hrs - 16.30 hrs 120 Moorgate, Moorgate, London, EC2M 6UR COURSE OBJECTIVE: The configuration and specification of hardware used in subsea oil and gas developments is determined by many factors, not least by the characteristics of the reservoir. Reservoir Engineering is a subject that has developed since the 1930s and employs both analytical and empirical concepts. This five hour course covers the basic concepts of reservoir engineering that subsea engineers need to understand.

10.00 Coffee & Registration TOPICS COVERED: • The Reservoir Engineer and areas of knowledge.

• Reservoir formation.

• Estimation of reserves.

• Hydrocarbon fluids; classification by physical and chemical composition; impurities.

• Properties of reservoir rocks; porosity, permeability. Their effect on production.

• Rock-fluid interaction. Wetability, capillary action, transition zones, drive mechanisms.

• Phase behaviour of hydrocarbon fluids, classification by phase behaviour.

• Definitions - Solution Gas-Oil Ratio (GOR), Oil Formation Volume Factor, Gas Formation Volume Factor.

A set of notes and PowerPoint presentation will be issued to all delegates.

COURSE PRESENTER: Dr Bob Allwood graduated from the University of Reading, UK, with a 1st class honours degree in physics and obtained his PhD from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. After working in the field of physics research for some five years at Heriot-Watt University and in industry, he then turned his attention to the problems of working in the underwater environment. Over the coming years he was to work the University’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering on ROV development and then as Manager of Engineering in the University’s Institute of Offshore Engineering. He moved to Cranfield University in 1986 as Senior Lecturer in Underwater Technology and undertook research aimed at the improvement of underwater vision, and developed and presented Masters courses for the underwater and subsea sectors.

Before being appointed Chief Executive of the Society for Underwater Technology in December 2009, Bob had taught postgraduate students in a number of subject areas, including basic reservoir engineering for more than 20 years.

All enquiries to SUT, Enterprise Centre, Exploration Drive, Aberdeen Science and Energy Park, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, AB23 8GX Tel: + 44 (0)1224 823637, Fax + 44 (0)1224 820236, Email: events@sut.org

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08/02/2012 16:58:28

EIVA

Radar Level Sensor

EIVA has entered into a partnership with the College of Charleston and University of Washington on the BEAMS study programme, a joint journey that will centre around knowledge sharing and training across the Atlantic Ocean, concerned with matters below the water’s surface.

Valeport has launched its VRS20 Radar Level Sensor. Using noncontact technology, the VRS20 can be installed easily to measure water level in a wide variety of applications.

EIVA CEO Jeppe Nielsen said: “We believe we have an obligation to partake in the further development of the survey industry. An obvious way of doing this is by contributing to the training of the next generation of surveyors.”

The partnership revolves around internships at EIVA’s headquarters in Denmark and an annual three-day training workshop, taught by EIVA instructors, where the EIVA software suite is put to use at both the College of Charleston and University of Washington.

According to Jeppe Nielsen, sponsoring the BEAMS study programme is an undertaking which EIVA expects to learn from as well, to the clients’ benefit: “We hope to gain new input and insight into the direction and development of the industry.

This will give us a deeper understanding of how we can continue to bring value to our customers by meeting future needs and requirements.”

The VRS20 uses 25GHz pulsed k-band radar to measure water level to an accuracy of ±10mm (this is unaffected by changes in water density or atmospheric condition). It has been designed to work seamlessly with Valeport’s TideMaster tide logger or can operate as a standalone device with optional integrated GPRS telemetry. Alternatively it can interface with a third party data logger.

Kevin Edwards, Sales and Marketing Manager at Valeport, explains more about the benefits of the VRS20, “We have responded to the market and developed a water level measuring instrument that uses non-contact radar technology to avoid the issues of traditional submerged devices, such as fouling and corrosion. Installation couldn’t be easier, with integrated spirit bubbles for levelling and an integral mounting bracket with tool-free adjustment.”

SDI 12 communication as standard.

With a wide range 9 – 28v DC power supply, the device is also versatile.

The VRS20 comes in a fully sealed injection moulded housing which is rated to IP67, complete with a bar fixing for GPS antenna use. With all these features, the VRS20 will be ideal for use in port and harbour operations, surveying and monitoring deployments.

Valeport will be showcasing the VRS20 at Ocean Business 2013, along with its other world-leading oceanographic, hydrographic and hydrometric instruments. Valeport will be at stand M1 at Ocean Business 2013, April 9-11, at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton.

VRS20 Radar Level Sensor

Data collection is a simple process for the VRS20, with RS232, RS485 and

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UT3 February 2013

Diving SeaSAR

Navy Divers extend Diving frontiers

Shark Marine Technologies. has provided a complete SeaSAR, search and recovery system to the Long Beach (CA) Police Department, Dive Team. Their specific configuration consists of a Side Scan Sonar, Tripod mounted Scanning Sonar, a Pole Mounted Multibeam Imaging Sonar, and two Navigator Diver Held Sonar Imaging and Navigation Systems, all operated through a single software program on a waterproof topside console.

The elite saturation divers of the Indian Navy, set a new national record for the deepest ocean dive when they dived to 257 meters on 9th January in the Arabian Sea about 35 nautical miles off Kochi.

The Long Beach PD are responsible for all law enforcement issues for the entire Port of Long Beach, from the outer anchorages to the beaches and marinas, flood controls and localized inland waters. Such a diverse area of coverage dictated the requirements for a comprehensive, portable suite of search and recovery, imaging systems.

The modularity of the SeaSAR system allows it to be customised to meet a customer’s varying challenges. For those of the Long Beach PD the following systems were selected. A side-scan sonar for wide area searches; an over-the-side pole mounted multi-beam sonar for quick target location or hull scanning; a tripod mounted, scanning sonar for site management or confined area searches, and two Navigator, Diver held Sonar Imaging and Navigation Systems for target reacquisition, investigation, identification, and diver based searches. All of these systems interface through a single topside control console running Shark Marine’s DIVELOG software.

The use of one, user friendly software (DiveLog) to control all sonar systems, allows data to be combined and seamlessly shared between all sensors. DIVELOG is capable of generating search grids and overlaying these onto various map formats including BSB, ENC, and imported satellite images. Actual search tracks and the sonar coverage area are recorded and displayed by DIVELOG to ensure complete area coverage. Information about a target from all sonar systems is available at the click of a mouse. The use of a single software program to complete all operations reduces the operator’s learning curve, and greatly simplifies project and target management. When the search is over, detailed target information can be turned into a report at the touch of a button.

SeaSAR, search and recovery system

The Divers from INS Nireekshak – Lieutenant Malkeet Singh, Mukesh Kumar Leading Seaman, BS Bora Leading Seaman, Rithesh Kumar Leading Seaman, M Kumar Leading Seaman and Satender Sharma Leading Seaman exited on 19th January from the Diving Compression Chamber in the presence of their Commanding Officer, shipmates and their families.

The divers, who were ensconced in the Deck Decompression Chamber (DCC) since 7th January in preparation for the dive, were decompressed in the DCC on completion of the record breaking dive. Earlier, divers from the same ship had dived to 233 meters in February 2011.

Saturation dive is a highly technical and niche field which helps in providing longer duration dives at deeper depths to carry our specific operations like submarine rescue or salvage. It involves complex support systems from the Diving Support Vessel to enable the divers to explore the final frontiers in physical and mental endurance. Water pressure increases by 1 kg/cm2 on increasing of depth by 10 meters each time.

Other complications of deep dives include physiological problems of bubbles formed by gas throughout the body causing “decompression sickness” as the divers come up to water surface. Saturation divers inhale a mixture of helium and oxygen gases under pressure which is prepared and monitored by a team of specialists from the control station.

The divers after being compressed to the required depth in the DCC are transferred under pressure to the diving bell through a tunnel arrangement. The Diving bell with the divers is then lowered into the sea.

The divers are provided heated gas for breathing and hot water for maintaining body temperatures at those depths where it is pitch dark.

Commander Sandeep S Sarna, Commanding Officer of INS Nireekshak expressed satisfaction and pride at the achievement of his men saying that such endeavours at testing the frontiers provides them greater confidence for future operations. INS Nireekshak had recently participated in a submarine rescue exercise with the US Navy.

The ship was also deployed to raise the fishing boat Don I which had sunk off the Kerala coast last year after a collision with a merchant ship.

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22 & 23 MAY 2013, ABERDEEN, UK

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UT3 us February 2013 Follow on Twitter @AllEnergy

Appointments Jeff Holtom

Martin Vahl

Brian Green

Seatronics has appointed Jeff Holtom as regional manager in the Middle East.

Bergen-based, Unitech has appointed Martin Vahl as chief executive officer.

Mr Vahl will be responsible for heading up the continued growth of Unitech’s global subsea connector business and expansion into the umbilicals and flying leads market. Formerly a Royal Norwegian Naval officer, he has over 10 years management experience in the offshore industry.

Downhole tools specialist, Calidus Engineering Ltd, has appointed Brian Green as managing director.

Based in Abu Dhabi, Holtom’s responsibilities at Seatronics Ltd. will include sales and marketing, overall Quality, Health, Safety and Environment (QHSE) responsibility and general and management of the office in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Holtom has a degree in land and hydrographic surveying from North East London Polytechnic, UK. Since graduating in 1990, he has held notable positions with various companies including Racal (Decca) Survey, Thales Geosolutions and Fugro Survey across the Middle East region; Australia and the Far East; and West Africa. Roles have included offshore party chief, vessel manager, client representative and onshore project and quality, health, safety and environment manager.

Jeff Holtom

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Unitech designs and manufactures the industry’s most comprehensive range of subsea connectors for critical subsea field distribution and intervention systems. Recently the company has invested over $17M in a new umbilical and flying lead production facility in Stord, Norway, marking a significant expansion in its role as a leading supplier of subsea connection systems.

“Demand for high performance subsea connectors is booming,” says, Martin Vahl, CEO, Unitech. “Unitech’s proven track record has demonstrated its ability to meet the needs of an offshore industry that values the high quality, simplicity of operation and inherent safety of our connectors.”

Formerly general manager at leading subsea mooring connector company, First Subsea, he will be responsible for developing the offshore market for Calidus Engineering’s integrity management, HP/HT monitoring and control systems and remote 3D seismic monitoring devices.

Based in Redruth, Cornwall, Calidus Engineering has a growing reputation for innovation and excellence in the fields of downhole, subsea oil and gas, and extreme geothermal engineering.

It designs and builds high reliability systems for harsh downhole environments, especially HP/HT wells. Its key technologies include: camera and vision systems, heat resistant engineering technologies, sealing systems and seismic monitoring.

Mr Green has over 35 years experience in the offshore industry, and is a board member of the UK’s leading subsea industry trade body, Subsea UK.

Brian Green

Martin Vahl

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One-day Interactive Course

Flow Assurance: Current State of the Art Wednesday, 6 March 2013 120 Moorgate, Moorgate, London, EC2M 6UR COURSE OBJECTIVE: Subsea production systems are of increasing importance to the oil and gas industry. They are being used to develop small and satellite hydrocarbon accumulations as tie-backs to existing infrastructure, with increasing emphasis on deepwater applications. Most operate as multiphase systems and this gives rise to inherent production problems due to the increased potential for deposition of solids, both organic and inorganic. As the industry looks towards expanding potential applications, the likelihood of these problems arising is increasing. The course objective is to describe the production problems that can arise in multiphase operations, with a particular focus on subsea systems, and the range of possible solutions currently in use. Emerging technologies are also introduced.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND? Many oil industry personnel are involved in the design and operation of subsea and multiphase equipment and systems. This course is aimed at specialist engineers who require a broader overview of general subsea system design and operational considerations, young engineers who are just entering the field and more senior management who are seeking a greater in-depth understanding in order to make informed decisions.

COURSE FORMAT The course is made up of eleven sessions in one day. These are highly interactive in nature to enable those attending to gain the maximum benefit. Active questioning is positively encouraged. The emphasis is on providing explanations at a readily understandable level and on stressing the links between the engineering fundamentals and their practical applications, both current and future. Case studies and examples from around the world are used as much as possible.

DOCUMENTATION Each delegate attending the course is provided with a full set of the graphics used, annotated with notes describing the material presented. Full colour versions of the graphics and notes are also provided on a CD-ROM, along with some video clips and animations.

These are intended to be useful in the delegateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s professional activities in the future.

All enquiries to SUT, Enterprise Centre, Exploration Drive, Aberdeen Science and Energy Park, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen, AB23 8GX Tel: + 44 (0)1224 823637, Fax + 44 (0)1224 820236, Email: events@sut.org

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AGM AND MEMBERS’ DINNER Trinity House The SUT held its AGM, annual awards ceremony and members’ dinner at the impressive location of Trinity House, London (situated overlooking the Tower of London and River Thames). The AGM began at 6.00 pm, followed by the annual SUT awards ceremony honouring those who have made exceptional contributions to underwater technology.

During the awards ceremony, SUT Fellowships were awarded to Prof Menglan Duan, Mr Geir Evensen, Mr Iain Knight, Mr Thomas Thiis, Dr Zenon Medina-Cetina and Mr Toby Powell (who unfortunately was unable to attend the ceremony). Honorary Fellowship was awarded to Prof David Denison, who was unable to attend the awards ceremony. His granddaughter, Francesca Cavallaro, accepted the award on his behalf.

The Society wishes him many congratulations on his award.

The Houlder Cup for outstanding contribution to underwater operations was awarded to Mr Michael Cocks for his support to professional divers and their families over many years.

Following twenty years as a London stockbroker and eight years trying to get into Parliament for the SDP, Michael found a new challenge in

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commercial diving. He soon began working for the Professional Divers trade union and with the support of the late Cdr Jackie Warner, Dr John King and Dr John Bevan, launched onto his crusade to ensure there were the same controls for onshore diving as in the North Sea. In 1994 he began writing on diving safety issues for the Commercial Diver magazine, the forerunner of Underwater Contractor International, and is now a regular contributor to the latter. He continues his international diving school visits and advises divers and their families in their fights for compensation following accidents.

Michael is a strong campaigner for the facts of diving accidents and incidents to be made public so that lessons can be learned. The SUT wishes Michael many congratulations on his award.

The SUT Oceanography Award was awarded to Dr Neville Smith in recognition of his contribution to the field of oceanography.

Neville was appointed to the position of the Deputy Director (Research and Systems) of the Bureau of Meteorology, an executive agency of the Australian Government, in January 2008. He was previously Chief Scientist and head of the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre, prior to the creation of the

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Thu 6 December 2012

Centre for Australian Weather and Climate Research.

As a scientist, Neville played a key role in the development of ocean and climate prediction systems and has worked with the international community in the development of ocean observing systems for climate.

He initiated and led the Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment.

Neville is a member of the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System Advisory Board, the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, and the National Computing Infrastructure Steering Committee.

He was elected as a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2005.

Neville is currently the National Delegate to the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. He was elected to the IPCC Bureau as vicechair of Working Group 2 in September 2008 and was a member of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council WG on Climate Change Regional Impacts and Adaptation (report presented June 2007). He was also a member of the Review Panel for the World Climate Research Programme, 2007–2008.

Unfortunately, Neville was unable to attend the awards ceremony in person;

however, the Society wishes him many congratulations on his award.

The David Partridge Underwater Technology Award was awarded to Mr Peter Foden. Peter studied at Liverpool John Moores University where he obtained a BSc in Applied Physics. He joined the Cartwright Group in 1977 and since then he has developed, with a small number of colleagues, a series of deeper, longerdeployed and specialised devices for the measurement of tides and non-tidal signals in bottom pressure – the latter for ocean circulation studies.

Peter has personally made or supervised over 200 deployments around the world including deployments in the Drake Passage in order to monitor the Antarctic Circumpolar Current. Peter currently leads a small team who operate tide gauges at eight sites in the South Atlantic and Antarctica, which provide the UK contribution to the Global Sea Level Observing System (GLOSS).

In addition, he has worked in recent years with the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO and others to establish tide gauges throughout Africa and at sites in the western Indian Ocean to form part of the international tsunami warning system. The SUT wishes Peter many congratulations on his award.

The SUT President’s Award was awarded to Dr Colin Grant in recognition of his enormous contribution over many years to the development of oceanographic research and for services to the Society. Colin was awarded his PhD on “Satellite Meteorology of the UK” by Bristol University in 1979.

In 1984, after seven years with Imcos Marine Ltd as a Weather Forecaster and Metocean Specialist, he joined BP and is now the Metocean Advisor for offshore facilities at BP Exploration.

He advises on real-time metocean problems, on climate aspects, and on design and operational conditions such as the 100-year return value of wave height for offshore locations throughout the world. He has written and presented many technical conference papers during his time with BP, including a paper co-authored

by Chris Shaw on the “Operational Oceanographic needs for the Offshore Oil & Gas Industry”, which was published by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO in 2001.

However, Colin’s greatest contribution over the years to the wider Metocean community has been his enthusiastic role as a bridge between scientists and offshore designers and operators, facilitating the transfer of knowledge and the transfer of data. He has

served on the Council of the Royal Metrological Society, on NERC’s Autosub Scientific Steering Committee and on the Senior Advisory Panel of the EC ‘Maxwave’ Project.

He was chairman of the UKOAA Metocean Committee for 11 years, and has been chairman of the North West Approaches Group since 1989. He is currently a member of numerous committees, including the International Oil and Gas Producers (OGP) Metocean Committee, the UK Marine Information Council, and the IACMST Environmental Data Action Group. He is a Chartered Scientist, a Chartered Marine Scientist and Vice-President (and Fellow) of the IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering Science & Technology).

He has also served on the Education and Training Committee of the SUT for many years. For his many achievements and leadership, it gave SUT great pleasure to award Colin the SUT President’s Award for 2012.

The AGM and awards ceremony was followed by a drinks reception and then dinner, attended by around 75 members and guests. After dinner, a game of ‘Heads and Tails’ was led by Ian Gallett. The game raised a fantastic sum of £560 for the Education Support Fund.

ABERDEEN BRANCH AGM AND ANNUAL DINNER

12 December 2012

Held at The Marcliffe Hotel, Aberdeen, UK We were delighted to see a very strong attendance of 258 members and guests at the 2012 Aberdeen Branch AGM and annual dinner.

The event was generously sponsored by Apache, Framo Engineering, Kongsberg, Petrex, Subsea 7, Technip and Wood Group Kenny. Following last year’s format, the sponsors provided video footage, which was shown on video screens during the dinner.

The evening was coordinated by a local master of ceremonies, Stuart MacBride, who controlled the flow of the evening

with authority and good humour. The attendees enjoyed a drinks reception in the ballroom before the meal. Branch chairman David Kaye welcomed everyone to their tables, including special welcomes for the SUT guests and for the representatives and guests of our sponsors, and then presented the branch report.

The summary included a number of successful branch events this year, including the recent Christmas lectures for local schoolchildren and the launch of the new branch group for developing professionals, SUT+. David ended by

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reporting that, after three years as branch committee chairman, he would stand down after the AGM and hand over to the new chairman, Chris Milner.

Following a very enjoyable meal, Stuart MacBride hosted the regular ‘Heads and Tails’ game, supported by SUT Chief Executive, Bob Allwood.

The lucky winner left standing at the end was Stefi Hooft Van Huysduynen of BP who received a prize of £250.

More importantly, a very generous sum of £3120 was raised for the SUT’s Education Support Fund, which will support students studying

UT3 February 2013

undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses in marine science and technology.

A number of awards were announced after the Heads and Tails game. The first of these was the Martin Richmond Award.

The award was set up between the SUT and J P Kenny in memory of Martin Richmond who sadly died from cancer in 2006 while chairman of the Aberdeen Branch committee and employed by J P Kenny.

The award is made to a postgraduate student studying a subsea-related course under demanding and mitigating personal circumstances.

The winner of this year’s award was Sameer Chapgaon, a recent graduate from the Subsea Engineering MSc programme at Aberdeen University. Sameer arrived

Martin Richmond Award: Sameer Chapgaon presented with a Laura Mullen painting in Aberdeen in September 2011 and completed his course while working night shifts to help fund his studies.

Sameer graduated this summer with distinction, and is now employed at Wood Group MCS Kenny.

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23/01/2013 14:21

Aberdeen Branch Evening Meeting

Renewables – Installation Wednesday, 28 November 2012

By David Kaye, Aberdeen branch committee chairman

Sameer’s prize for the Martin Richmond Award comes from a related competition, for an original piece of artwork from a student at Robert Gordon University Gray’s School of Art. The winning artist was Laura Mullen, a third year student in the painting programme at Gray’s School of Art. Laura’s painting was on display throughout the evening.

The final award of the night was the SUT Aberdeen Branch Award of Merit. This award is made to an individual who, at the discretion of the branch committee, has made an outstanding contribution to branch activities, underwater technology, the underwater industry and the aims and objectives of the Society. This year’s winner of the award was Dave Smith of the National Hyperbaric Centre.

Dave has had a very successful career in the development and sales of diving equipment, combined with his business achievements in the growth of the world’s largest diving equipment supplier, Divex, the Professional Diving Academy, and more recently with the National Hyperbaric Centre.

The final entertainment of the evening was provided by our after dinner speaker, John Simonett. John is a former schoolmaster and top level rugby player, who left teaching in 1985 to become a professional speaker and presenter.

John gave a very individual, varied and extremely entertaining talk combining stories from the rugby world and his childhood in Scotland with some remarkable feats of memory and some astonishing magic tricks; reflecting his membership of the Magic Circle.

The evening closed with thanks to our sponsors, John Simonett, Stuart MacBride, Bob Allwood, the Marcliffe Hotel and Spa, and a special thanks and flowers for Kirsty Webster and Dawn Geddes of the SUT who worked hard to ensure that the evening was such a success.

A highly successful AGM and annual dinner ended with much discussion of John Simonett’s entertainment as many satisfied diners stayed into the late hours.

Offshore wind developments are providing a steadily increasing business for the subsea construction industry. Recent reports forecast a total of 18 GW capacity to be installed in offshore UK by 2020, based on a total of 7 GW installed over the next four years, and a further 11 GW over the subsequent four years.

The feasibility and accuracy of these figures is currently under debate, but regardless of the actual figures, the scale of investment and construction activity is remarkable. The capacity represents several thousand offshore turbines, roughly equivalent to the installation of one turbine per day for eight years. Against this context, our November Aberdeen evening meeting looked at the installation of offshore wind farms and infrastructure.

The meeting was held at our usual venue, the Hilton Treetops Hotel.

The meeting kicked-off with a preliminary “pre-talk”, initiated by the Aberdeen branch SUT+ group, and intended to give new entrants to the industry an overview and more detailed understanding of offshore wind developments. The talk was given by Nick Rey of Wood Group Kenny. Nick gave an excellent overview of offshore wind farms, the key features of the technology, and the engineering challenges in their construction. Nick’s high quality presentation set the scene perfectly for the three subsequent presentations.

The next presentation was given jointly by Paul Davison and Michael van Zwanenberg of SMD. Paul described SMD’s range of cable installation machines, including ploughs, tractors and ROV free-swimming devices. This technology was originally developed and proven for subsea cable and umbilical installation.

Paul demonstrated how far the technology has grown, in both size and capability, to meet the requirements for large diameter infield and export power cables for offshore wind farms. Modern installation machines dwarf the original umbilical and cable installation machines. Paul summarised the advantages and disadvantages of the different burial

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technologies, and also discussed the potential for fully subsea simultaneous installation and burial of infield cables.

The second half of the presentation was given by Michael, who described SMD’s development work in remote subsea drilling and pile installation.

Michael gave an update of the status of this new and potentially gamechanging technology.

The next presentation looked at the installation of wind turbine generators.

Glen Mitchell of Wood Group Kenny summarised the current methods for wind turbine installation, and described a number of upcoming concepts, which have been proposed for more rapid installation of wind turbines in deeper waters. Many of these technologies focus on the one-piece installation of a fully assembled turbine.

Glen gave a fascinating overview of these new concepts. Glen’s presentation illustrated the ongoing and creative solutions being developed to meet the challenges of the industry – and probably included the first use of the phrase “bunny ears” at an SUT Aberdeen meeting!

The final presentation of the evening considered the view of the wind farm developer. Richard Copeland of Repsol gave a summary of work in progress on the Inch Cape wind farm.

Inch Cape is located off the east coast of Scotland, and currently planned for installation between 2015 and 2019.

Richard summarised the factors to be considered in bringing the wind farm to reality (the environmental “statement” alone runs to well over 10 volumes!) and the issues faced by the developer when selecting the development concept and the technologies to be implemented. The presentation gave an alternative, and very relevant, perspective on the installation challenges discussed during the rest of the evening.

An excellent attendance of 102 people enjoyed four high quality, very stimulating and very professional presentations. The audience then retired for the buffet meal and further discussion and conversation. Our grateful thanks are due to all of the speakers and to our generous sponsors, SMD and Wood Group Kenny.

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Report on SUT Perth Branch Evening Technical Meeting Perth, Australia

THE 4 Gs A LIGHTER LOOK AT THE 4 SCIENCES Wednesday, 10 October 2012 A very successful evening was the outcome for the first technical evening hosted by OSIG-Perth.

Smoothly organised by the SUT administration team, it was a full house for the 170 attendees who enjoyed the five presentations on the “4 Gs”: geology, geophysics, geomatics and geotechnics. Five presentations? The fifth was integration!

The format for the night was pace, short 15 minute presentations. The meeting was possible through the generous sponsorship provided by Arup and RPS. Following the pre-meeting refreshments Andrew Shuckstes (WorleyParsons) explained to us “Why Geology is Awesome” and how you cannot engineer things on or in the ground without some geology.

He explained how geologists make the engineering process easier and better, as they see important things in the samples, the bathymetry, the geophysics and the imagery that other people cannot see!

Then Kobi Braendli, (EGS Survey Pte Ltd) took us to the realm of “Geophysical Investigation Surveys – an overview of their application”.

Kobi’s presentation was supported by spectacular data examples that demonstrated the need for geophysical site surveys during the life cycle of an offshore field.

He also provided examples of the possible consequences should surveys be omitted or results not taken seriously.

Next up Gareth Wright (Woodside Energy Ltd) lead us through the “Seabed Survey Data Model – An Industry Data Model for Managing Seabed Survey Data”. The use of

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Andrew Shuckstes (Geology), Kobi Braendi (Geophysics), Sarah Elkhatib (Geotechnics), Stefan Revets (Integration), Andy Lane (Chair), Gareth Wright (Geomatics)

the OGP Seabed Survey Data Model standard was discussed in terms of how it helps the management, recovery and visualisation of the large volumes of seabed survey data acquired over numerous surveys by different contractors throughout the lifetime of a project.

The last of the 4 Gs, was covered by Sarah Elkhatib (Arup) with “Offshore Geotechnics – From Seabed Characterisation to Foundation Design“.

She provided an overview of what offshore geotechnical engineers do with real-life examples from various projects covering the broad spectrum of requirements that are dependent on the proposed structures; characterisation of the seabed via insitu testing, sampling and laboratory

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testing leading to the design of foundations, pipelines or anchoring systems for the developments being considered.

The formal presentations were brought to an end by Stefan Revets (Advanced Geomechanics) who described the linking of the 4 Gs. Geohazard investigations on the North West Shelf are prime examples for the need and necessity to combine the 4 Gs with the integration of data leading to an increase in value far exceeding the sum of the parts!

Taking advantage of the Arup/ RPS sponsorship the networking continued for a further hour and a half before the last of the delegates drifted off home.

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